Simultaneous presentation of similar stimuli produces perceptual learning in human picture processing.
Human participants received unsupervised exposure to difficult-to-discriminate stimuli (e.g., A and A'), created with a morphing procedure from photographs of faces, before learning a discrimination between them. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that prior exposure enhanced later discrimination and that intermixed exposure (A, A', A, A'...) resulted in better subsequent discrimination than blocked exposure (B, B, ...B', B'...). Experiments 3 and 4 showed that simultaneous exposure to 2 similar stimuli facilitated the later acquisition of both a simultaneous and a successive discrimination, and this effect was observed even though simultaneous exposure to 2 stimuli fostered the development of an excitatory association between them (Experiment 5). The findings of Experiments 1 and 2 revealed a perceptual learning effect with pictures of faces, and the findings of Experiments 3-5 are difficult to reconcile with associative analyses of perceptual learning.
Mundy
M E
ME
School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales.
Honey
R C
RC
Dwyer
Dominic M
DM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D014796:Visual Perception