The natural/man-made distinction is made before basic-level distinctions in scene gist processing

• Published in: Visual cognition Vol. 18; no. 4; pp. 513 - 536
• Main Authors: Loschky, Lester C., Larson, Adam M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hove Taylor & Francis Group 01.04.2010; Psychology Press
• Subjects: Basic level; Biological and medical sciences; Categorization; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Man-made; Masking; Natural; Natural scenes; Oliva; Perception; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Recognition; Scene gist; Scene perception; Superordinate; Time course; Vision; Human; Natural scene; Vision; Perception; Cognition; Masking; Experimental study; Categorization
• ISSN: 1350-6285; 1464-0716
• DOI: 10.1080/13506280902937606

What level of categorization occurs first in scene gist processing, basic level or the superordinate "natural" versus "man-made" distinction? The Spatial Envelope model of scene classification and human gist recognition (Oliva & Torralba, 2001) assumes that the superordinate distinction is made prior to basic-level distinctions. This assumption contradicts the claim that categorization occurs at the basic level before the superordinate level (Rosch, Mervis, Gray, Johnson, & Boyes-Braem, 1976). The present study tests this assumption of the Spatial Envelope model by having viewers categorize briefly flashed and masked scenes after varying amounts of processing time. The results show that early levels of processing (SOA < 72 ms) (1) produced greater sensitivity to the superordinate distinction than basic-level distinctions, and (2) basic-level distinctions crossing the superordinate natural/man-made boundary are treated as a superordinate distinction. Both results support the assumption of the Spatial Envelope model, and challenge the idea of basic-level primacy.