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Related Experiment Videos

Beyond perceptual judgment: Categorization and emotion shape what we see.

Steven B Most1

  • 1School of Psychology,UNSW,Australia,NSW 2052,Australia.s.most@unsw.edu.au.

The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|March 31, 2017
PubMed
Summary

Perception is shaped by emotion and categorization, not just judgment. Evidence from inattentional blindness and emotion-induced blindness challenges the view that attention only affects post-perceptual judgments.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Perception Science

Background:

  • The debate on whether perception is influenced by higher-level cognitive processes like categorization and emotion, or if these only affect post-perceptual judgments, remains active.
  • Firestone & Scholl (F&S) have argued that perception is direct and not shaped by these higher-level factors, limiting their review to studies of perceptual judgment.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To challenge the F&S conclusion by presenting evidence that categorization and emotion influence perception itself.
  • To argue that phenomena like inattentional blindness and emotion-induced blindness demonstrate perception is shaped at a fundamental level, not peripherally.

Main Methods:

  • Review and synthesis of existing literature on inattentional blindness.
  • Analysis of studies investigating emotion-induced blindness.

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  • Critique of F&S's reliance on perceptual judgment studies.

    • Main Results:

    • Evidence from inattentional blindness indicates that what an individual perceives can be influenced by attentional limitations.
    • Studies on emotion-induced blindness show that emotional states can alter perceptual experiences.
    • These findings suggest that categorization and emotion actively shape the perceptual intake, not merely subsequent judgments.

    Conclusions:

    • The F&S conclusion that perception is not shaped by categorization and emotion is likely overstated.
    • Attention, categorization, and emotion play a fundamental role in shaping what is perceived, rather than being peripheral influences.
    • Future research should consider the integral role of these factors in perceptual processes.