Associative grouping: perceptual grouping of shapes by association. Vickery, T. J. & Jiang, Y. V Atten Percept Psychophys, 71(4):896-909, 2009.
doi  abstract   bibtex   
Perceptual grouping is usually defined by principles that associate distinct elements by virtue of image properties, such as proximity, similarity, and occurrence within common regions. What role does learning play in forming a perceptual group? This study provides evidence that learning of shape associations leads to perceptual grouping. Subjects were repeatedly exposed to pairs of unique shapes that co-occurred within a common region. The common region cue was later removed in displays composed of these shapes, and the subjects searched the display for two adjacent shapes of the same color. The subjects were faster at locating the color repetition when the adjacent shapes with the same color came from the same trained groups than when they were composed of two shapes from different trained groups. The effects were perceptual in nature: Learned pairings produced spatial distortions similar to those observed for groups defined by perceptual similarity. A residual grouping effect was observed even when the shapes in the trained group switched their relative positions but was eliminated when each shape was inverted. These results indicate that statistical co-occurrence with explicit grouping cues may form an important component of perceptual organization, determining perceived scene structure solely on the basis of past experience.
@Article{Vickery2009,
  author   = {Vickery, T. J. and Yuhong V Jiang},
  journal  = {Atten Percept Psychophys},
  title    = {Associative grouping: perceptual grouping of shapes by association.},
  year     = {2009},
  number   = {4},
  pages    = {896-909},
  volume   = {71},
  abstract = {Perceptual grouping is usually defined by principles that associate
	distinct elements by virtue of image properties, such as proximity,
	similarity, and occurrence within common regions. What role does
	learning play in forming a perceptual group? This study provides
	evidence that learning of shape associations leads to perceptual
	grouping. Subjects were repeatedly exposed to pairs of unique shapes
	that co-occurred within a common region. The common region cue was
	later removed in displays composed of these shapes, and the subjects
	searched the display for two adjacent shapes of the same color. The
	subjects were faster at locating the color repetition when the adjacent
	shapes with the same color came from the same trained groups than
	when they were composed of two shapes from different trained groups.
	The effects were perceptual in nature: Learned pairings produced
	spatial distortions similar to those observed for groups defined
	by perceptual similarity. A residual grouping effect was observed
	even when the shapes in the trained group switched their relative
	positions but was eliminated when each shape was inverted. These
	results indicate that statistical co-occurrence with explicit grouping
	cues may form an important component of perceptual organization,
	determining perceived scene structure solely on the basis of past
	experience.},
  doi      = {10.3758/APP.71.4.896},
  keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Association Learning, Attention, Color Perception, Discrimination Learning, Female, Field Dependence-Independence, Humans, Male, Memory, Pattern Recognition, Practice (Psychology), Psychophysics, Short-Term, Transfer (Psychology), Visual, Young Adult, 19429967},
}

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