Flexible usage of object and global scene information during human scene categorization

The human ability to categorize scenes has been related to the usage of both object and global scene information. In three experiments (carried out in 2024), we compared the utility of these sources of information and assessed the time course of their usage by reducing scenes to single objects or visualizations of global scene information (textures). Experiment 1 showed that both types of information were of comparable utility under controlled viewing conditions and could be used concurrently. However, a simple combination of object and global scene information was not sufficient to explain fast scene categorization. Experiment 2 demonstrated how the participants' preference for either type of information varied over different stimulus-onset asynchronies between stimulus and mask as well as the objects' size and eccentricity. Experiment 3 showed that, on average, participants nonetheless benefitted from the presentation of object before global scene information in line with the notion of local-to-global information usage. In summary, we show that both object and global scene information are useful for human scene categorization. We further suggest that information usage over time is flexible and depends on the availability of object information. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).