Emphasis in perceptual learning

Abstract

The term "Perceptual learning", though becoming more and more common in the literature, is by no means always clearly defined or used in the same sense by different writers. Gibson & Gibson (1955) in discussing this point, suggest that there are actually two problems involved: (a) the degree to which we learn to perceive, and (b) the degree to which we learn by perceiving, though they concluded these were possibly not contradictory. White (1943) uses the term to mean the acquisition of "more or less permanent 'knowledge'" as the result of the perception that a particular route leads to a goal. This is in line with von Fieandt's (1958) conclusion that organised perception is a system of relationships. Hebb (1949), while not defining the term, does give a detailed account of perceptual learning and makes it clear that for him it is a matter of learning to pattern stimuli in appropriate ways, e.g. to recognise a triangle where previously only independent lines were seen.