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Published on: June 3, 2013
Abrupt category shifts during real-time person perception
1Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, 6207 Moore Hall, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA, jon.freeman@dartmouth.edu.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|June 29, 2013
Summary
Person perception involves smooth competition and abrupt category shifts. These processes flexibly adapt to social context, influencing how we categorize others based on cues like sex and hair.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Real-time person perception is thought to rely on continuous, smooth competition between categories.
- Previous models did not fully account for the dynamic shifts observed during categorization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the nature of competition during person perception.
- To determine if person categorization involves both smooth competition and abrupt shifts.
- To examine how social context influences these competitive processes.
Main Methods:
- Two studies were conducted using morphed faces and varying social contexts.
- Study 1 analyzed mouse trajectories during sex categorization of ambiguous faces.
- Study 2 manipulated target typicality (sex-typical/atypical hair) and context norms (normative/counternormative).
Main Results:
- Mouse trajectories showed continuous attraction to incorrect categories, increasing with ambiguity.
- Abrupt category reversals were observed, also increasing with ambiguity.
- Competition varied based on the interaction between target typicality and contextual norms.
Conclusions:
- Person categorization involves both smooth competition and abrupt category reversals.
- These categorization dynamics are flexible and adapt to social context.
- Findings challenge previous models by highlighting dynamic shifts in person perception.
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