PERCEPTUAL INDEPENDENCE - DEFINITIONS, MODELS, AND EXPERIMENTAL PARADIGMS

Necessary distinctions in an analysis of the study of perceptual independence are: (1) between the definition of independence as zero correlation and its definition as performance parity, (2) between normative models of perceptual process and models of perceptual state, and (3) between experimental designs which use orthogonal stimulus inputs and those which use correlated inputs. Implications of this analysis are: (1) perceptual independence is not a unitary concept; (2) it can be studied most effectively with experiments using orthogonal inputs; (3) when correlated stimulus inputs are used, so many underlying assumptions have to be made that it is almost impossible not to find a model which satisfies both the concept of independence and any given experimental result; (4) state independence is intimately related to process independence; and (5) search for the locus of interaction is probably a more useful approach than trying to determine whether independence exists. (29 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.