Processing integral dimensions: the whole view.
In the traditional view, integral dimensions are said to be processed as unitary whole and only occasionally analyzed. Converging operations establish that (a) pitch and loudness and (b) hue, saturation, and brightness are true psychological dimensions and yet constitute integral dimensions in just this sense. Recent challenges provided by R. D. Melara, L. E. Marks, and their colleagues are shown to be based on narrow and faulty interpretations of evidence for privileged axes. They are also undermined by strong evidence of the holistic processing of pitch and loudness and of the dimensions of color that emerge within both their own data and the larger literature. The traditional view--including the strong claim that integrality entails mandatory holistic processing--continues to fare very well as an account of a substantial and varied set of findings.
Nelson
D G
DG
Department of Psychology, Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania 19081.
D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D006801:Humans; D008144:Loudness Perception; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011601:Psychophysics