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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 25, 2026

Creating Objects and Object Categories for Studying Perception and Perceptual Learning

Creating Objects and Object Categories for Studying Perception and Perceptual Learning

Published on: November 2, 2012

The Shape Bias is Affected by Differing Similarity Among Objects.

Saime Tek¹, Gul Jaffery, Lauren Swensen

¹University of Connecticut, Department of Psychology, 406 Babbidge Road, Unit 1020, Storrs, CT, 06269-1020, USA.

Cognitive Development

|January 17, 2012

Summary

Visual similarity impacts shape bias in object categorization. Both children and adults rely more on shape when objects look less alike, suggesting visual properties are key to learning new object names.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Perception

Background:

Previous studies show visual object properties influence novel-name extension tasks.
The specific impact of visual similarity on shape bias remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how the degree of visual similarity between objects affects shape bias in categorization.
To compare performance in young children and adults.

Main Methods:

Experiment 1: College students categorized objects with low vs. high visual similarity.
Experiment 2: 24-month-olds' shape bias was assessed using the Intermodal Preferential Looking Paradigm with varying object similarity.

Main Results:

Adults showed a stronger preference for shape when object similarity was low.
Children demonstrated a shape bias only when object similarity was low.
Reduced visual similarity enhanced shape-based judgments in both age groups.

Conclusions:

Visual similarity significantly modulates shape bias in object categorization.
The findings highlight the interplay between visual perception and conceptual development.
Understanding visual properties is crucial for explaining how children learn object categories and names.