Abstract
The effects of extended practice on the development of the category effect were assessed in a two-part study. Four groups were trained on within- and between-category search, using a detection task similar to that used by Jonides and Gleitman (1972). These groups then received extended testing requiring both detection and identification of opposite-category items. One, two, and three target-category items and a variable number of opposite-category items were presented on each trial. Evidence was found for partially selective processing based on category membership. Both the number of within-category items and the number of between-category distractors influenced response latency. The results indicate that practice as well as the density of items within the visual array is critical to the development of the category distinction.
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Kelly, P.L., Harrison, D.W. & Hodge, M.H. The category effect in visual selective attention. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 29, 71–74 (1991). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334774
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334774