Object classification involves synthesis of object representations over time, not analysis of initially holistic forms - such is the conclusion of around 20 years’ work in my lab combining a variety of stimuli and methodologies. Wills et al. (2015) is probably the most important single paper in this workl; Wills et al. (2020), which won a Psychonomic Society Best Article Award, includes a brief summary of the evidence base to date. Wills et al. (2021), currently available as a preprint, describes some of our most recent work on this topic.
List of publications
Edmunds, C.E.R., Milton, F. & Wills, A.J. (2024). The rapid synthesis of integral stimuli. submitted.
Wills, A.J., Ellett, L., Milton, F., Croft, G., & Beesley, T. (2020). A dimensional summation account of polymorphous category learning. Learning and Behavior, 48, 66-83.
Wills, A.J., Inkster, A.B., & Milton, F. (2015). Combination or Differentiation? Two theories of processing order in classification. Cognitive Psychology, 80, 1-33.
Wills, A.J., Milton, F., Longmore, C.A., Hester, S., & Robinson, J. (2013). Is overall similarity classification less effortful than single-dimension classification? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 66, 299-318.
Wills, A.J., Lea, S.E.G., Leaver, L.A., Osthaus, B., Ryan, C.M.E., Suret, M.B., Bryant, C.M.L., Chapman, S.J., & Millar, L. (2009). A comparative analysis of the categorization of multidimensional stimuli: I. Unidimensional classification does not necessarily imply analytic processing; evidence from pigeons (Columba livia), squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), and humans (Homo sapiens). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 123, 391-405.
Milton, F., Wills, A.J., & Hodgson, T.L. (2009). The neural basis of overall similarity and single-dimension sorting. NeuroImage, 46, 319-326.
Milton, F., Longmore, C.A., & Wills, A.J. (2008). Processes of overall similarity sorting in free classification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 30, 407-415.
Milton, F., & Wills, A.J. (2004). The influence of stimulus properties on category construction. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 30, 407-415.