Object recognition from point-light stimuli: evidence of covariation structures in conceptual representation

Current theories of concepts and categorization involve easily identifiable attributes or features as the basic informational fodder of representation, and some composite of such features as the conceptual representation. This 'standard model' is now being questioned on a number of empirical and theoretical grounds, especially those concerning the informational origins of features. In this paper we examine the evocation of conceptual functions by point-light stimuli in which objects and constituent features are not directly given at all, but have to be constructed and construed in some way. We have maintained in previous studies that conceptual representation depends upon nested covariation hierarchies, and here suggest that the evocativeness of point-light stimuli can be explained by the structured covariation information they present. In two studies we found evidence that variation in the overall amount and the structure of covariation information in point-light stimuli is associated with variation in a number of conceptual response functions, such as the recognizability of objects from the stimuli, and the dispersion of responses. We take these results as evidence that conceptual representation depends upon, and features and other constituents are generated 'on-line' from, nested covariation hierarchies.