Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Gaining knowledge mediates changes in perception (without differences in attention): A case for perceptual learning.

Lauren L Emberson1

  • 1Peretsman-Scully Hall,Psychology Department,Princeton University,Princeton,NJ 08544.lauren.emberson@princeton.eduhttps://psych.princeton.edu/person/lauren-emberson.

The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|March 31, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by
Same author

Evidence of Top-Down Sensory Prediction in Neonates Within 2 Days of Birth.

Developmental science·2025
Same author

Neural bases of sustained attention during naturalistic parent-infant interactions.

Scientific reports·2025
Same author

The fNIRS glossary project: a consensus-based resource for functional near-infrared spectroscopy terminology.

Neurophotonics·2025
Same author

Relative contributions of predictive vs. associative processes to infant looking behavior during language comprehension.

Journal of child language·2025
Same author

Infants' top-down perceptual modulation is specific to own-race faces.

Journal of experimental child psychology·2024
Same author

Longitudinal assessments of functional near-infrared spectroscopy background functional connectivity in low- and middle-income infants during a social cognition task.

Journal of experimental psychology. General·2024
Same journal

Are language models models?

The Behavioral and brain sciences·2026
Same journal

Large language models illuminate the mechanistic underpinnings of the creative aspect of language use (CALU), long regarded as a mystery.

The Behavioral and brain sciences·2026
Same journal

LLMs as a platform for studying constraint interaction: Motivation and challenges.

The Behavioral and brain sciences·2026
Same journal

Beyond the data gap: Children create languages, violate their input statistics, and exhibit critical periods.

The Behavioral and brain sciences·2026
Same journal

Not-so-strange love: Language models and generative linguistic theories are more compatible than they appear.

The Behavioral and brain sciences·2026
Same journal

Rich data drive generalization: Lessons from machine learning for linguistics and cognitive science.

The Behavioral and brain sciences·2026
See all related articles

Perceptual learning can be influenced by knowledge, not just simple repetition. This challenges the idea that learning is solely a bottom-up process driven by familiarity.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Perception

Background:

  • The nature of perceptual learning is debated, with some theories emphasizing bottom-up processes like feature familiarity.
  • Firestone & Scholl (F&S) proposed that perceptual learning is not top-down, arguing it stems from repetition, not environmental knowledge.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine whether perceptual learning can occur through knowledge-based changes, challenging the F&S hypothesis.
  • To provide evidence for top-down influences in perceptual learning.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of existing research, specifically citing Emberson and Amso (2012) as a case study.
  • Contrast of findings with the F&S model of perceptual learning.

Main Results:

Related Experiment Videos

  • Emberson and Amso (2012) demonstrated perceptual learning driven by knowledge acquisition.
  • This learning occurred without the simple repetition or feature familiarity emphasized by F&S.
  • The findings suggest that knowledge-based factors can indeed drive changes in perception.

Conclusions:

  • Perceptual learning is not exclusively a bottom-up process driven by familiarity.
  • Knowledge about the environment can mediate changes in perception, supporting a top-down influence.
  • The F&S model may not fully encompass the mechanisms of perceptual learning.