The perceptual effects of learning object categories that predict perceptual goals

Ana E. Van Gulick, Isabel Gauthier
2014 Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory and Cognition  
In classic category learning studies, subjects typically learn to assign items to one of two categories, with no further distinction between how items on each side of the category boundary should be treated. In real life, however, we often learn categories that dictate further processing goals, for instance with objects in only one category requiring further individuation. Using methods from category learning and perceptual expertise, we studied the perceptual consequences of experience with
more » ... ects in tasks that rely on attention to different dimensions in different parts of the space. In two experiments, subjects first learned to categorize complex objects from a single morphspace into two categories based on one morph dimension, and then learned to perform a different task, either naming or a local feature judgment, for each of the two categories. A samedifferent discrimination test before and after each training measured sensitivity to feature dimensions of the space. After initial categorization, sensitivity increased along the categorydiagnostic dimension. After task association, sensitivity increased more for the category that was named, especially along the non-diagnostic dimension. The results demonstrate that local attentional weights, associated with individual exemplars as a function of task requirements, can have lasting effects on perceptual representations.
doi:10.1037/a0036822 pmid:24820671 pmcid:PMC4143460 fatcat:lqcumset4nfo3ifsh4cv5opvdi