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Perceptual expertise: can sensorimotor experience change holistic processing and left-side bias?
Ricky Van-yip Tso1, Terry Kit-fong Au2, Janet Hui-wen Hsiao2
1University of Hong Kong richie13@connect.hku.hk.
Psychological Science
|August 3, 2014
Summary
Expert recognition of faces and Chinese characters differs. Writing experience, not just reading, influences holistic processing of characters, while left-side bias appears consistent across expertise levels for object recognition.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Holistic processing and left-side bias are key to expert face recognition.
- Expert Chinese character recognition shows left-side bias but reduced holistic processing, unlike faces.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether writing or reading experience better explains reduced holistic processing in Chinese character experts.
- To determine if writing and sensorimotor experience modulate holistic processing effects.
Main Methods:
- Comparison of holistic processing and left-side bias in Chinese nonreaders, limited-experience readers, and fluent readers.
- Analysis of behavioral markers in expert object recognition tasks.
Main Results:
- Chinese readers with limited writing experience showed increased holistic processing compared to nonreaders.
- Fluent Chinese writers exhibited reduced holistic processing, suggesting writing experience is crucial.
- Both novice and expert Chinese writers displayed a stronger left-side bias for mirror-symmetric characters.
Conclusions:
- Writing and sensorimotor experience significantly modulate holistic processing effects.
- Reduced holistic processing in expert Chinese readers is primarily linked to writing experience.
- Left-side bias may be a stable expertise marker for object recognition, independent of sensorimotor experience.
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