The psychophysics of categorical perception

For most perceptual continua, observers' ability to discriminate exceeds their ability to identify. Certain dimensions, however, particularly in speech perception, are said to be categorically perceived, in the sense that they can be discriminated only as well as they can be labeled. The presen...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological review 1977-09, Vol.84 (5), p.452-471
Main Authors: Macmillan, Neil A, Kaplan, Howard L, Creelman, C. Douglas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Auditory Perception
Classification (Cognitive Process)
Discrimination (Psychology)
Human
Humans
Models, Psychological
Psychophysics
Research Design
Speech
Speech Perception
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:For most perceptual continua, observers' ability to discriminate exceeds their ability to identify. Certain dimensions, however, particularly in speech perception, are said to be categorically perceived, in the sense that they can be discriminated only as well as they can be labeled. The present article offers a signal detection theory analysis of categorical perception; in previous models, low-threshold assumptions have been made. Discrimination paradigms popularly used to test the categorical perception hypothesis, such as the ABX and same-different designs, are analyzed, and unbiased sensitivity measures ( d ′) abstracted. A Thurstonian model is used to predict discrimination from identification under the hypothesis that perception is categorical. For cases in which perception is found to be categorical, it is shown how the hypothesis of dual processing of phonemic and nonphonemic information can be distinguished from alternative models. (49 ref)
ISSN:0033-295X
1939-1471
DOI:10.1037/0033-295X.84.5.452