Psychology of Perceptual Learning

Podcast

Play an AI-generated podcast conversation about this lesson

Questions and Answers

What type of perceptual task shows improvement with practice, as demonstrated by McKee and Westheimer in 1978?

Orientation discrimination

Vernier discrimination (correct)

Face discrimination

Stereoscopic depth discrimination

According to Ramachandran and Braddick's 1973 study, what type of perceptual task shows improvement with practice?

Stereoscopic depth discrimination (correct)

Vernier discrimination

Face recognition

Orientation discrimination

What is the main difference between the findings of perceptual learning in simple and complex tasks?

Simple tasks show less learning than complex tasks (correct)

There is no difference in learning between simple and complex tasks

Complex tasks show more learning than simple tasks

Simple tasks show more learning than complex tasks

What type of strategy was initially thought to contribute to improvements in perceptual tasks in the 1970s and 1980s?

Cognitive changes, such as engaging in a specific strategy Signup and view all the answers

What is the term used to describe the minimum difference in stimulation that an observer can detect?

Discrimination threshold Signup and view all the answers

What type of noise was found to show more learning in perceptual tasks, according to Fine and Jacobs in 2002?

External noise Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary difference between tasks represented by orange and yellow versus purple and pink?

Amount of learning shown over time Signup and view all the answers

What type of tasks showed more learning?

Tasks with multiple perceptual dimensions Signup and view all the answers

What is the relationship between initial performance levels and amount of learning?

Inversely proportional Signup and view all the answers

What was the primary finding of Fahle and Henke-Fahle's (1996) study?

The amount of learning is inversely proportional to initial performance levels Signup and view all the answers

What was the range of thresholds for the subjects in Fahle and Henke-Fahle's (1996) study?

5-15 Signup and view all the answers

What did Astle et al. (2012) test in their study?

Whether the same factors that limit performance on a task limit learning on the same task Signup and view all the answers

What was the purpose of equating Vernier discrimination performance in Astle et al.'s (2012) study?

To make the starting point equal across individuals and conditions Signup and view all the answers

What is the effect of increasing eccentricity on Vernier discrimination performance?

It impairs performance Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Perceptual Learning on Simple Tasks

Vernier discrimination improves with practice, as shown by McKee and Westheimer (1978), where the goal is to detect the smallest offset between two bars.
Orientation discrimination also improves with practice, as demonstrated by Vogels and Orban (1985).
Stereoscopic depth discrimination improves with practice, as shown by Ramachandran and Braddick (1973), where the goal is to determine the location of a disc in relation to a background.

Perceptual Learning on Complex Tasks

Increasing complexity in stimuli leads to more perceptual learning, as shown by Fine and Jacobs (2002).
Tasks using stimuli with external noise show more learning than low-level tasks.
Complex tasks that require discriminations along multiple perceptual dimensions show more learning.
Examples of complex tasks include face discrimination, which involves multiple dimensions such as shape, contrast, and more.

Amount of Learning and Initial Performance Levels

The amount of learning is inversely related to initial performance levels, as shown by Fahle and Henke-Fahle (1996).
Poorer initial performance on a Vernier discrimination task leads to more learning on the task.
The change in threshold is higher if you start at a poorer performance level.

Factors Limiting Learning

Astle et al. (2012) tested whether the same factors that limit performance on a task also limit learning on the same task.
They manipulated Vernier discrimination performance by equating thresholds across individuals and conditions, and tested at different eccentricities.
The results showed that the same factors that limit performance also limit learning.

Studying That Suits You

Use AI to generate personalized quizzes and flashcards to suit your learning preferences.

Description

This quiz covers the improvement of performance on simple perceptual tasks with practice, including Vernier discrimination and orientation discrimination. It explores the learning process and discrimination threshold in perceptual tasks.