Consistency of Visual Perception of Constellations

Article: Here’s why humans chose particular groups of stars as constellations
Source: Science News Magazine, via ScienceAlert
Published: March 29, 2021
Article: There Could Be a Beautiful Reason Why Constellations Are The Same in Many Cultures
Source: ScienceAlert
Published: April 2, 2021

The stars of constellation Sagittarius

This small study was an abstract presented at the March 2021 meeting of the American Physical Society. Though it has yet to be published in a journal, the findings were intriguing enough to catch the attention of two general science news sources. The study relates to eyes in its topic of saccades and how human visual perception of random points of light, in this case the constellations of the night sky, show a level of consistency across cultures. Why does the perception of one constellation comprise a particular group of stars rather than another? For example, the Greco-Roman constellation Orion is exceedingly similar to the constellation Baiame in Aboriginal Wiradjuri traditions in Australia. Moreover, in both myths, Orion and Baiame chase seven young women, whether known as the Plaeiades or the Yugarilya sisters, respectively. The presenters used a simulation that incorporated information about the lengths of saccades and the apparent distances between neighboring stars and their brightnesses to generate groupings of stars. They reported that their simulation tended to align with the 88 modern constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. What is intriguing about this study is that it provides a simple explanation for the naming practices of constellations in the night sky across different cultures. That explanation is all the more exciting in locating these similarities in the consistency of human visual perception.

Personal commentary: It is sometimes difficult to literally see how some constellations could be perceived the way they are, such as that of Sagittarius above depicting the Greco-Roman centaur archer. My perception does not align with illustrations of the constellation, but I suppose I can make out a line of stars forming an arm to an arc of three stars forming the archer's bow.

My rating of this study: ⭐🌸

David S, Smith LM, Lynn C, et al. "Free Energy Model of the Human Perception of a Starry Sky." Bulletin of the American Physical Society. Abstract S16.00006 at the American Physical Society Meeting. Presented 18 March 2021. http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR21/Session/S16.6