Crossmodal correspondences influence adaptation during rule-based category learning of objects

The formation of object categories can be influenced by multisensory information and prior knowledge. To accommodate changes in category structures or new perceptual experiences, category rules should be flexible to changes in sensory information and task goals. However, multisensory category adaptation may be influenced by crossmodal correspondences between object features, reflecting, for example, the learned statistics of the environment. Across three independent experiments, participants first learned a category structure defined by corresponding or noncorresponding audio-visual cues (Experiment 1, N = 34: size-pitch; Experiment 2, N = 33: spatial elevation-pitch; Experiment 3, N = 35: spatial frequency-pitch). Participants were subsequently introduced to a new audio-visual category rule that conflicted with the previously learned category structure. Our results indicated that successful rule adaptation was generally achieved. However, in all three experiments, a category structure defined by corresponding crossmodal cues was less adaptable compared to one defined by noncorresponding cues. These findings provide novel evidence that the nature of crossmodal cues can constrain category learning and adaptability, providing insights into the cognitive dynamics of acquired multisensory category representations and the link between multisensory perceptual and categorization processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).