title: The nature of learned categorical perception effects: a psychophysical approach.
abstract: Categorical perception is often cited as a striking example of cognitive influences on perception. However, some evidence suggests the term is a misnomer, with effects based on cognitive not perceptual processing. Here, using a psychophysical approach, we provide evidence consistent with a learned categorical perception effect that is dependent on analysis within the visual processing stream. An improvement in participants' discrimination between grating patterns that they had learned to place in different categories was 'tuned' around the orientation of the patterns experienced during category learning. Thus, here, categorical perception may result from attentionally modulated perceptual learning about diagnostic category features, based upon orientation-selective stages of analysis. This argues strongly that category learning can alter our perception of the world.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey. GU2 7XH, Great Britain, UK. l.notman@surrey.ac.uk
authors.forename: Leslie A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Notman
authors.forename: Paul T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Sowden
authors.forename: Emre
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ozgen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006801:Humans; D011601:Psychophysics; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological; D014796:Visual Perception