Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Perception of Sound Waves

Perception of Sound Waves

The human ear is not equally sensitive to all frequencies in the audible range. It may perceive sound waves with the same pressure but different frequencies as having different loudness. Moreover, the perception of sound waves depends on the health of an individual's ears, which decays with age. The health of one's ears may also be affected by regular exposure to loud noises.
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same frequency...

Gestalt Principles of Perception

Gestalt Principles of Perception

Gestalt principles provide a framework for understanding how humans perceive objects as unified wholes within their context. These principles are essential in explaining the cognitive processes that make sense of complex visual stimuli by organizing them into coherent groups. One fundamental principle is proximity, which posits that objects located close to each other are perceived as a collective group. For instance, when dots are positioned near one another, the visual system interprets them...

Auditory Perception

Auditory Perception

The auditory system is essential for sound perception, utilizing various critical structures. When sound waves enter the outer ear, they travel through the ear canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are then transmitted to the middle ear, where three tiny bones – the malleus, incus, and stapes – amplify the sound. This amplification is crucial, as it ensures that the sound vibrations are strong enough to be conveyed to the inner ear. These vibrations then reach the cochlea, a...

Fixed Action Patterns

Fixed Action Patterns

A fixed action pattern (FAP) is a specific, hard-wired sequence of behaviors that occurs in response to an external stimulus, called a sign stimulus. The behavior is “fixed” because it is essentially unchangeable—proceeding similarly across individuals of a species every time it occurs.

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

The human brain perceives pitch through two primary mechanisms reflected in place theory and frequency theory. Each mechanism describes how sound waves are interpreted as specific pitches by the brain, offering insights into the intricate processes of auditory perception.
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by identifying...

How Data are Classified: Categorical Data

How Data are Classified: Categorical Data

A variable, usually notated by capital letters such as X and Y, is a characteristic or measurement that can be determined for each member of a population. Data are the actual values of variables. They may be numbers, or they may be words. Datum is a single value.
Data are classified based on whether they are measurable or not. Categorical data cannot be measured; instead, it can be divided into categories. For example, if Y denotes a person's party affiliation, some examples of Y include...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

A 21st century cognitive portrait of the Himba, a remote people of Namibia.

British journal of psychology (London, England : 1953)·2021

Same author

Urban experience alters lightness perception.

Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance·2018

Same author

Reducing Suicide Risk: Challenges and Opportunities in the Emergency Department.

Annals of emergency medicine·2016

Same author

Effects of Culture and the Urban Environment on the Development of the Ebbinghaus Illusion.

Child development·2016

Same author

Developmental Commonalities between Object and Face Recognition in Adolescence.

Frontiers in psychology·2016

Same author

Urbanization increases left-bias in line-bisection: an expression of elevated levels of intrinsic alertness?

Frontiers in psychology·2014

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis

Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis

Published on: November 9, 2011

Categorical perception of animal patterns.

Julie Goldstein¹, Jules Davidoff

¹Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK.

British Journal of Psychology (London, England : 1953)

|August 7, 2007

Summary

Language influences perception, supporting the Whorfian hypothesis. The Himba people, with specialized animal pattern terms, demonstrated superior categorical perception for these patterns compared to color terms.

Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Linguistic Anthropology
Psychology

Background:

The Whorfian hypothesis posits that language shapes thought and perception.
Previous research has explored the link between color vocabulary and color perception.
The impact of specialized vocabulary on perceptual classification remains an area for investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the Whorfian question: does language influence perceptual experience?
To examine the effect of specialized vocabulary on perceptual classification using animal patterns.
To assess Categorical Perception (CP) in a culture with a rich animal pattern vocabulary (Himba) and a limited color vocabulary.

Main Methods:

Comparative study of perceptual classification between Himba and potentially other cultural groups.

More Related Videos

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Published on: April 19, 2017

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Published on: June 3, 2013

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis

Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis

Published on: November 9, 2011

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Published on: April 19, 2017

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Published on: June 3, 2013

Utilized novel visual stimuli for assessing Categorical Perception (CP).

Focused on judgments related to animal patterns and color terms.

Main Results:

The Himba exhibited superior performance in cross-category decisions for animal patterns.
This superiority was linked to their rich vocabulary for animal patterns.
Findings supported the Whorfian prediction that specialized labels enhance perceptual categorization.

Conclusions:

Language, specifically specialized vocabulary, significantly influences perceptual judgments.
The study confirms and extends previous findings on the link between labeling and perceptual differences.
The Whorfian hypothesis is supported in the domain of animal pattern perception.