Abstract
Recent studies of children’s perception may be interpreted in terms of a developmental continuum from integrality to separability in the perception of multidimensional variation. Two experiments examined the existence of such a continuum in adult perception. The first experiment indicated that there are dimensional combinations that are neither clearly integral nor separable for adults. Rather, such a combination results in performance patterns intermediate between those found with integral and separable dimensions. The second experiment tested one conceptualization of a continuum of dimensional separability in a speeded classification task. By this conceptualization, the perceived structures of multidimensional variation are orderable by thedegree to which the component dimensions are differentiated. Consistent with this view, performances with three-dimensional combinations are shown to be differentially dependent on dimensional and wholistic relations. The importance of the joint consideration of developmental and adult issues in the perception of multidimensional variation is briefly discussed.
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Foard, C.Analysis of integral dimensions. Unpublished manuscript, University of Pennsylvania.
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This research was supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation (BNS 78-13019) and by a Biomedical Support Grant through Indiana University to the first author.
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Smith, L.B., Kilroy, M.C. A continuum of dimensional separability. Perception & Psychophysics 25, 285–291 (1979). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198807
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198807