Alternative processes in the identification of familiar pictures

Abstract

Individual differences in perceptual processing were investigated in a task requiring subjects to match words (either general or specific category names) with simultaneously presented pictures. Based on the results of previous research, individual differences in processing were inferred from the effect, on "same" reaction time, of rotating the pictures into an unfamiliar orientation. For subjects inferred to emphasize an analytic mode of processing, word-picture matches were faster for general than for specific category names, supporting the hypothesis that analytic subjects would attend to the minimal number of features necessary to infer the categorical identity of the pictures. For subjects inferred to emphasize a structural mode of processing, there was little difference in word-picture matching time between specific and general category names, supporting the hypothesis that structural subjects would attend to all the information in the pictures, regardless of the category level specified by the word.