Human and animal perceptual learning: some common and some unique features
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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Creating Objects and Object Categories for Studying Perception and Perceptual Learning
Published on: November 2, 2012
1School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia. christ.mitchell@unsw.edu.au
Abstract:
A selective summary of the four contributions to this special issue of Learning & Behavior on perceptual learning is presented. Mackintosh and Hall propose an associative analysis of perceptual learning. It is argued that Tsushima and Watanabe's psychophysical evidence and Fiser's Bayesian-modeling work represent (in different ways) challenges to the associative approach. Some tentative suggestions are explored with regard to how animal learning theorists might meet these challenges. Finally, the role of awareness in perceptual learning is briefly examined.
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