Perception, Cognition, and Behavior

8/11/2019 Perception, Cognition, and Behavior

1/19

PERCEPTION, COGNITION, AND BEHAVIOR

JEROME S BRUNER

AND

LEO POSTMAN

Harvard Umverstty

The study of perception during the past decade has been moving

along two converging paths O ur symposium today is an effort to

discover whether the two paths have yet converged or, if not, whether

some kind of bulldozer operation can be set in motion to widen the

two paths into a single road

One approach to perception is pnmanly concerned with percep-

tion in and of

itself,

without primary regard for the manner in

which perception is imbedded in the other, ongoing activities of the

perceiver Th ere is relatively little concern with the role of per-

ception m the adjustm ent of the organism Th e functional rela-

tions between the dimensions of the stimulus and the attnbutes of

experience and the determination of these relations by sensory mech-

am sms concern some exponents of this approach Others stress the

intrinsic laws of perceptual organization (e g , the law of pragnanz)

In research of this kind it is crucial to control or to hold constant

the set, motivation , and past learning of the subjects Th e subject

is instructed to be neutral, accurate, and attentive H e is assumed

to have a basically neutral attitude toward the stimulus, wishing

neither to eat, destroy, caress, nor m any manner to use the stimulus

presented to him It is merely a som ething to be seen, hea rd,

touched , smelled, or sensed Som etimes, it is true , the pa ram eters

of set and past experience are systematically varied and related to

changes m perceptual response But even when they are considerwi,

such factors are assigned a distinctly secondary place, as for ex-

ample m W ertheim er's laws of perceptual grouping (4 0) They are

used to account for residual variance In general, to use Brunsw ik's

language, stimulus vanables and organism variables remain arti-

ficially tied in a " stand ard " expenm ental situation, and n o attempt


2/19

P E R C E P T I O N , C O G N I TIO N , A N D BEH A V IO R 15

context F o r its prim ary concern is w ith the m anner in

f psychological functioning Perception is viewed as ins tru-

ental activity Those w ho take this approach to perception hope

of the perceptual system The data of such research^the

A wider universe of determinants related to the activities of

organism is sampled The goal is a "full info rm ation " theory

perceptual behavior The students attracted to such research earn

label too Th ey are Fu nction ahsts

That the two approaches are eventually convergent is obvious.

rm alists and Functionalists can and do live fruitfully in the same

Figure-g roun d organization, a primary datum of per-

d not w ith others (3 6) Is it inconceivable to think of families

Our task, of course, is to investigate the kinds of mechanisms


3/19


4/19

PERCEPTION, COGNITION, AN D BEHAVIOR 1 7

laws of response derived from research in other forms of behavior

(primarily the acquisition and performance of motor responses)

Some years ago, Ellson (14,15,16), for example, attempted to show

the manner in which frequent pairing of a signal and a sound affected

the formation of a conditioned aud itory hallucination H e noted

that classical principles of conditionmg and extinction do not govern

the phenomenon U sin g less tangential perceptual phenomena,

Solomon and Howes (37), treating perception of verbal stimuli as

an instrumental response, have attempted with some success to relate

speed of perceptual recogn ition to frequency of prio r (reinfo rce d)

usage of this response

Another approach, stemming from conditioning theory, attempts

to account for perceptual organization and changes in organization

by invoking intervening mechanisms derived from conditioning prin-

ciples H ull's "aflferent neura l interactio n" is an example It is

through afferent neural interaction that the kind of complex per-

ceptual response which is studied by Gestalt psydiolc^y is to be

subsumed under the general pnnciples of Hull's behavior theory

The work of Lambert, Solomon, and Watson (23) mdicating that

the aKrent size of objects vanes as a function of the amount of

reinforcement assoaated with them is another instance

Finally, there is the kind of conditioning research^perhaps it

is not fully correct to subsume it under this category^which at-

tempts to infer perceptual or cognitive organization from responses

observed in the learm ng situation Zen er's w ork is almost a pu re

case of this (42 ) Bu t, generally, such research including T o l-

man's cognitive maps (38) and Hilgard's "broad functionalism"

(20)is less a matter of "conditioning theory" or "learning theory"

than an approach to a general theory of cognition in which per-

ceptual organization and reorganization mediate behavioral change

Gestalt theory Gestalt theory , for all its stress on "p u re " per-

ceptual laws, has been aware of central directive determinants which


5/19

1 8 JEROME BRUNER AND

tJO

POSTMAN

state investigated, and (h) when there are adequate conditions f

com munication hetween stimulus process and trace Dimc ker's w o

on color constancy (13), the experiments of Djang (12) and Bra

(3) and Henle (19) on the effects of past experience which refine

Gottschaldt's work on the same prohlem (17), are instances of r

search generated hy this conception In most instances these studi

get httle heyond the scope of Formalist research, their emphas

heing upon the formal properties of the stimulus process and th

trace It is interesting tha t Koflka 's conception of th e ego (22 ) ha

so little infiuence on this phase of Gestalt research

Motivational dynamics A nother theoretical approach tow a

the study of perception in hroader hehavioral context stems fro

theones predominantly concemed with motivational djmamic

Generally, these theories are only minimally concemed with t

mechanisms which mediate hetween motivation and perceptio

Their interest is m the manner in which perception serves motiv

tional requirem ents Perce iving is here regard ed as regulated

the economy of personality It opera tes to aid in wish-fulfillmen

in the reduction of tension, m reality testing, in ego defense, et

One may make predictions ahout the selectivity of perception has

upon psychoanalytic principles and, indeed, make predictions aho

differential and ahsolute sensitivity Bu t Freu dian theo ry tells

nothing ahout the mechanisms which hring ahout such perceptu

changes Yet, either directly or indirectly, there have heen inspir

hy the Freudian view of personality such provocative studies

those hy Mu rphy and his students (24, 32, 36) on perceptual au tis m

hy McClelland and his collahorators ( 1 , 26 ) on need gra tificatio

hy Sanford (34, 35) on the same top ic, hy Klein on threshold ph

ncttnena (21) , and hy other authors on a host of other topics most

chnical in na ture O ur own wo rk, too, has heen mdirectly influence

as have the continuing studies of Witkin and Asch (41) on pe

sonality dete rm inan ts of on en tatio n m space Ye t few of the


6/19

PERCE PTION, COGNITION, AN D BEHAVIOR 1 9

perception, with the role of central need states and past learning,

and with the mechanisms that intervene between central factors and

perception

I N T E R V E N I N G M E C H A N I S M S I N A T T R I B U T I V E P E R C E P T I O N

The remainder of this paper is concerned with an exercise in

formulatmg intervening mechanisms which can account for some

of our own recent results and the results of other investigators

It IS an exercise which illustrates the problems involved in gam bling

on intervening mechanisms

Our own research has been limited to two general types of per-

ceptual phenomena. T h e one m ay be called attributive pe rception,

studies of judgments of size, movement, bnghtness, and similar

abstracted perceptual attn bu tes T o date, ou r concern in this area

has been mostly with the extent and direction of systematic judgment

tendencieswith a sampling of conditions of set and motivation

under which objects are judged as bigger or smaller, faster or

slower, brighte r or duller, taller o r sho rter A second series of

experiments deals with the speed and course of the recognition

process tmder varying directive states

Determinants of attributive change T he first group of expe ri-

ments, concemed with the attributive characteristics of objects of

different personal relevance to the perceiver, raises this problem

Is there a tendency for that which is valued to be vivified or percep-

tually

accentuated

and, if so, in what manner and under what con-

ditio ns ' ' A n early study by Bru ner and Goodm an (5 ) seemed to

indicate that, within limits which we must discuss, the more valuable

a com, the more would its size be overestimated by ten-year-old

children La m bert, Solomon, and W ats on ( 23 ) hav e improved on

the techmque of this experiment by setting up a token-reward situa-

tion, demonstrating that after a poker chip has served as a token

which can obtain a reward, it comes to be judged larger than when


7/19

2 0 JEROME BRUNER AND LEO POSTMAN

m which this effect is washed out Indeed, as these expe rimen

craitinue, it becomes apparent that under certain conditions si

accentuation is a function not of positive value as such but of degr

of personal relevance

A recent experiment by Postman and Bruner (30) serves

underline the point Y ou ng children were set the task of jud gin

the height of stan dard three-inch toy figures T he figures, ln tn

sically desirable, were overestimated m height as compared wi

control blocks Children were given the to>s to keep du ring t

first part of the experiment and were promised that they wou

continue to receive them W he n the experim enter broke his prom is

when the toys became unavailable, their apparent size imderwent

further increase A control gro up showed no comparable increas

Frustration in the situation, the unavailabihty of the desired obje

served to provide another jolt m the personal relevance of the objec

Increase in apparent size resulted

All the situations thus described are, however, ones in which t

manipulation of the object being judged is not cr u aa l to the behavi

being called for It is under such conditions tha t changes in attr ib

tive judg m ent are mo st likely to occur A n experiment (7 ) illu

tra tes the point If one increases the relevance of an object by im

bedding It in a situation where it must be manipulated accurately

the subject is to minimize punishment, size judgments of the obje

tend toward maximum accuracy

The problems involved in accentuation as a function of person

relevance need considerably m ore investigation Th e very ter

"personal relevance" is itself somewhat difficult to render into oper

tional term s Yet the fact of accentuation provides an imp orta

challenge to research U nd er wha t conditions does accentuati

occ ur' ' Carter and Schooler ( 11 ) have found, for example, th

their subjects do not show perceptual accentuation as a function


8/19


which enhance or inhibit the operation of directive factors? A nd

what kinds of instructional or motivational constraints operate?

Does a "critical" or "analytic" attitude, for example, serve to cut

down the impact of other motivational factors U ntil we know the

answers to these questions, inconsistency of results m experiments

usmg different instructions will be the rule

Intervemngmech nisms

Can the results of these experiments

be understood by reference to a plausible intervemng mechanism?

At the descriptive level, we have subsumed these phenomena xmder

the heading of

accentuatton

W e have conceived of accentuation

as a central process which leads to systematic tendencies in at-

tributive judgment, increased saliency of the personally relevant

Accentuation can, of course, be a useful intervemng variable only to

the extent to which it is anchored to antecedent and consequent

conditions T he consequent conditions are attributive jud gm ents

jud gm ents of size, brilliance, speed of movem ent, etc The an te-

cedent conditions have been sampled by the experiments which we

described the ran ge of values of the attribute s which the subject

has experienced m the p as t, frequency an d am oun t of reinforcement

associated with the object, or the availability of the object for

mampulation and consumption in relation to the subject's need for

the object W he n anchored to such antecedent conditions, accentua-

tion becomes more than a class name for a group of judgmental

"disto rtions " It becomes an intervening va na ble which can lead

to limited predictions about attributive judgments

Our understanding of accentuation is further aided if we can

show It to be a special case of more general or inclusive mechanisms

m ediating attributive jud gm ent W e believe degree of accentuation

to be a special case of what Helson (18) calls adaptation level

Let us assume first that the value of any attributesize, hue

speed, etc lsnot an invarian t function of stimulus m agnitude In

the presence of a given physical extent, for example, apparent size


9/19


range of such stimuli which the person

has

judged Ad aptatio

level, in short, is the organism's subjective probabU ity ( expecta

tion ) about the middle of the range

of sizes (weights, speeds, etc

which belong in the same class as the object being judg ed In

senes of judgments, Helson has shown that "adaptation level can b

closely approximated by assuming that it is the weighted geometri

mean of all stimuli being jud ge d" (18, p 30 2) Let us take a

exam ple of its operation Du ncker (1 3) performed an experimen

m which a leaf, cut from green felt, was presented to his subject

in concealed red illum ination T he subject made a color match

Then a donkey, cut from the identical cloth, was presented in th

identical illumination A noth er color match was required H i

results show that the leaf appeared greener than did the donkey

Under these arcumstances, the stimulus is assimilated to the adapta

tion level for the color of a green leaf^an adaptation level built u

in the course of commerce with green leaves in the spnngtimes o

the or^^anism's past history

The phenomena of accentuationtake size for examplesug

gest that under rertain conditions the adaptation level for valuable

important, personally relevant objects is higher than for "neutral

objects A dapta tion level is determined by the traces or aftereffec

of the stimuli with which the organism has had commerce S o to

m em ory N ow there is experimental evidence that objects which ar

important or personally relevant are remembered as larger than neu

tral objects (5 , 11) ^ T he trace system is characterized by salienc

of the valuable and personally relevant, which is the same as sayin

th at valued objects have a high er adaptation level In attribu tiv

judgment of a valued obj'ect, the stimulus is assimilated to this hig

ada ptation level In consequence it appears large and vivid

Our discussion shows that accentuation, adaptation level, an

memory change are closely interrelated, that translations can b

m ade from one system of conceptualization to the other. Suc


10/19


Still face the basic question W hy is the trace system charac terized

by greater saliency of the personally relevant (which implies sys-

tematic memory change, higher adaptation level, and accentuation)

The phenomenon we have described as "accentuation," then, may

well be considered as a special instance of the determination of

jud gm ent by ada ptation level Such a transla tion is fruitful it m ay

sharpen the precision with which accentuation effects can be pre-

dicted, using the quantitative theory of adaptation which is already

in the process of development A t the same time, the dependence of

adaptation level on central directive states of the organism is brought

into clear focus

R E C O G N I T I O N P H E N O M E N A

Several of our own experim ents and several experim ents by other

investigators have raised problems concerning the manner in which

perceptual recognition is related to motivational and cogmtive states

of the organism A ga in, let us review briefly some of the salient

results before searching for mechamsms

Determinants of recogmtwn.

One series of exp enm ents indi-

cates that perceptual recognition, defined as correct report, is the

more rapid the more the stunuh used are famihar, probable, or

congjruous w ith prevailing attitudes, values, or needs T h at pre-

vailing state may be a somatic or social need as m McClelland's

wo rk ( 1 , 16 ), a dcnninant value as in the w ork of R od ng ues (33 )

or of Postman, Bruner, and McGirmies (31), or of Blake and

Vanderplas (2), a strong response tendency built up by frequency

of contact with the stimulus as in the work of Solomon and Howes

( 3 7 ) , or expectancy as established by the sheer probabihty of the

occurrence of certain kinds of stimuli as m an experiment of Miller,

Po stm an, and B nm er (2 9) W hen a stimulus "fits" or is appropri-

ate to the prevailing state, it is recognized m ore readily ( 29 ) T h at

which is incongpruent with the prevailing state of the orgamsm is


11/19


W e have attempted t o investigate the specific ways m whic

congruity or incongruity with the prevailing state of the organis

affects the recogn ition process (8 ) Sub jects, for example, a

shown tachistoscopically at increasing exposure a series of playin

cards Some of the playing cards are "no rm al," some ar e inco

gruous with the organism's subjective probabihties in the sense th

color and suit are reversed T ha t is, in addition to regular card

subjects are shown such monstrosities as a red six of clubs or

black three of diamonds As migh t be expected, there is a ver

large and significant difference in the exposure time required fo

correct recognition of the two kinds of playing cards, the incongruou

one requinng a great deal more time

I W h a t IS particularly interesting is the maimer in which th

organism attempts recognition m the presence of inappropria

stimulation One mecham sm which leads to quick recogmticm o

the normal cards and which operates against correct recognition o

th e incongruous ones is w hat we have called "dominance " It is

mechanism very much akm to assimilation On the basis of parti

recognitionsay, recognition of suit alone or color aloneccanj^e

(R ec og nitio n is attempted m accordance with past expenence W he

the card is, indeed, norm al, the attem pt is successful W he n th

stimulus contains an incong ruity, er ro rs in recognition result T h

m congruous cards are seen as norm al the red six of clubs will b

reported as the black six of clubs or as the red six of hearts or dia

monds Color will be assimilated to form or form to color On

determinant w ill^e^ do nu na nt. the other assimilated t q j t In th

presence of incongruous stimuli, a second reaction frequently occurs

a compromise formation (perhaps partial assimilation) in whic

the incongruous card will be seen as midway between the value o

the stimulus and the "va lue " of the expectation a norm ally blac

suit printed in red, for example, will be reported as purple, darkis

red, brown, black in red light, red in shadow, etc


12/19


Again there are dominance and compromise reactions at the lower

exposure levels the hag is seen as a young wom an, or the two

characters are seen as middle aged, or the scene is made congruent

with "norms" and expectations in some other ingenious fashion

W e come finally to a set of phenomena which are of central

importance m a wide vanety of behavioral situationsnormal and

pathologica l Briefly, the facts are these when a subject is pre -

sented stimuli which are knovra to be threatening or otherwise

anxiety-provoking, he may misperceive the stimulus on tachistoscopic

exposures preceding correct recc^ition in one of several character-

istic ways F irs t, he may fail to perceive any thing at all, a kind of

perceptual blockmg T hi s may occur at exposure levels above his

"n orm al" threshold O r he may report seeing stimuh which are

jumb led and nonsensical or incomplete Finally, he may report see-

ing material which is either deroga tory or con tradictory t o the natu re

of the actual stimulus The se phenomena suggest to the guileless

investigator the image of the superego peenng through a Judas eye,

scann ing incoming percepts in order to decide wh ich shall be per-

mitted into consciousness '

What requires explanation m terms of intervening mechamsms

m the experiments mentioned are these facts ( a ) that stimuh which

are congruent with the prevailing directive state of the organism are

more readily recognized than lncongruent material, (b) that ln-

congruent stimuh are "distorted" to conform to the dominant need

or expectation of the perceiver In short, the facts can be summ ed

up by saying that perceptual mechanisms operate to select and main-

tain those aspects of the stimulus habitat which are m keeping with

or congruent with the prevailing state of the organism^whatever

that state may be.

Intervening mechamsms W ha t perceptual and cognitive mech-

anism s can be invoked? Le t us assume first that recognition re-

quires some process of communication between an incoming stimulus


13/19

2 6 JERO M E BRUNER AND LEO POSTMAN

that all traces or all responses are not equally available to mobiliza-

tion by any given stimulus process Ce rtain traces or respcmses

whose activation has led to punishment or deprivation in the past

m ay be highly unavailable O r unavailability m ay be a function of

sheer disuse or of failure of p n o r reinforcem ent O the r traces o r

classes of traces (or responses, if you will) are highly available to

m obihzation by the stimuh Indeed, they may be not only highly

available but indiscriminately so in the sense of being available to a

broad ra nge of stimu li, l e , the re is a broad gradien t of stimulus

generahzaticwi

A final step in our account is the assumption that different over-

;all need states of the orgamsm or different states of expectancy

Ibnng about characteristic changes in the differential availability of

different traces or, aga in if you will, in the stre ng th of different

response ten de na es In short , ease or difficulty of recogn ition is a

function of changes in availabihty of trace or response systems to

incoming stimulation

^

T o be a useful intervening mechanism

availabihty must, of course, be anchored to specific antecedent con-

ditions such as frequency of reinforcement as well as specific moti-

vational conditions at the time of the expenment

It IS this ve ry sam e differential availab ility which leads to cer-

tain characteristic "normahzmg" prerecognition responses m our

incon gruity experim ents. A s the subject begins to recogmze the

generic characteristics of the stimulus^prior to full and correct

recc^nition, when his only knowledge, say, is that the stimulus is

some kind of playing card^that partial information activates traces

(responses) appropriate to pla3ang cards of the sort with which the

person has had ccnnmerce in the past Th ese become available an d

pnor to correct recognition are cruaal in determimng the kinds of

"dominance" responses which we have described above

What about the "defensive" perceptions which we have described

by which the subject frequently negates the nature of the actua

stimu lus in his repo rt? A t first blush we seem to be facing a p ara


14/19

PERCEPTION, COGNITION, AND BEHAVIOR 2 7

long as we (1) restnct the definition of recognition to one type of

response^veridical report and (2) insist that all systematic re-

sponses to the stimulus depend on the

pnor

occurrence of correct

recognition N eith er of these restrictive assum ptions is necessary

There can be tnpped off, by the presentation of a stimulus, a multi-

plicity of response tendencies among which veridical reporting is

only one, albeit a most im portant one O ther systematic reaction

tendencies tnpped off by the stimulus may be largely affective in

na tu re and lead to vario us forms of avoidance responses E ach of

these possible responses has its own threshold, determined by char-

acteristics of the stimulus and by the directive state of the organism

(differential "availab ility" of the responses) T hus, veridical re

port has

its

threshold, and affective avoidance response has

its

A s

our experiments suggest, the threshold for affective avoidance re-

sponse IS frequently lower than the threshold for vendical report,

but there is no need to assume that this sequence is invariant any

more than we need to assume that some implicit "correct recogni-

tio n" m us t tak e place pr io r to an affective response In each situa -

tion there is a hierarchy oi response thresholds, but the hierarchical

sequence is by no means fixed

Even within the class of responses which we may descnbe as

vendical reporting there is a variety of specific response tendencies

each w ith a threshold of its own . T hi s hierarchy of response thresh-

olds results in what classical investigators have called the "stages

of perception." O bserving the behavior of a subject in a tachisto-

scopic expenment, it is quite apparent that there are many thresh-

olds along the way to correct recognition A subject show n a horse

may report first that it is a "smudge," then a "thing," then "some

kind of animal or person," then that it is an "animal of some

kind w ith fou r legs," and then finally tha t it is a ho rse In sho rt,

rather than thinking m terms of "an absolute recogmtion threshold,"

It is closer to the facts to posit a hierarchy of thresholds, each re-


15/19


Le t US assum e th at in these cases prio r to correct, conscious, r

portable recognition of a specific stimulus, there is a more gener

type of response appropriate to the class or classes to which t

stimulus belongs T o put it m trace term s, classes of traces

trace columns are activated before there is differential activation

a speafic trace A m ong the generic responses tripped off at exposu

levels below that required for speafic recognition is a class

rather diffuse affective responses

Suppose further that the stimulus trips off a class of

negat

affective responses or sets up a negative affective state T hat r

sponse or state (a) may have the effect of preventing the operatio

of perceptual closure and thereby hindenng recogmtion, (b) t

same inhibitory state may account for the greater prevalence of la

of response, disorgamzed responses, and nonsense responses prior

correct recogmtion of negative stimuli, and (c) the negative affe

tive state may activate and increase the availability of those trac

or associations which are defensive, derogatory, or contravaluent

nature

The model we have set up, admittedly speculative, suggests scw

expe rimen ts O ne m ay arg ue, for examp le, tha t if affective r

T^ponses are tripped off before there is veridical recogmticm of t

' poten tially affect-laden stim ulus, the n one should be able to loca

these affective disturbances independently of their effects on pr

recognition behavior M cGinmes (2 7) has attempted to do this

a rather ingenious technique, and although his experiment will r

quire replication under many different conditions, the results a

suggestive A s stimuli he used w ords know n to be emo tional

toned^they were such socially tabooed words aswhore and penis

and comparable w ords neutral m na ture These he presented to h

subjects at exposure levels below the report thresho ld A t ea

exposure, prior to recognition, the subject's galvanic skin respon

was recorded, and he w as asked to report w hat he had seen M cGi

mes reports that there was a sigmficantly greater GSR m response


16/19


the subject A gain, prior to re c c ^ it io n their subjects showed a

reliably greater tendency to galvanic skin reaction in response to

the "unrecognized" words paired with shock

S O M E C O N C L U S I O N S

It IS, of course , far to o early m term s of research findings to be

able to say anything very firm or ngorous about the kinds of psycho-

logical mechanisms which mediate between the directive states of

the organ ism and changes m perceptual response T his paper has

been for us an adventure in trying to close a gap between such con-

cepts as need or value on the one hand and such more specifically

perceptual mechanisms as closure, assimilation, adaptive level, and

the trace-process communication netw ork A s far as we are con-

cerned, it IS almost impossible to indulge in too much speculation

at this point Tolerance is required the grea t task for perceptual

research is to locate the bndges between those behavior systems

which describe the general directive states of the organism and their

changes and the systems which attempt to account for perceptual

functioning

It will be argued, perhaps, that our account of perception is too

functionalist m nature^that we are too given, for example, to de-

scribing even' pra gnanz (which may possibly account for som e of

our playing card resu lts) a s a fortn of defensive activity Pe rha ps

there is a reason for ou r extrem e functionalism F o r too long, we

feel, there has been an exclusive concern with the isomorphism of

bra in fields and the stru ctu re of experience T he kind of functional

analysis which we are proposing, the question which inquires what

perceiving does for the organism, cannot accept the analysis of the

behavioral fields and its isomorphism with the brain field as the

end-all of psychology A s we have thou ght about the m atter, it

becomes increasingly clear that a thoroughgoing psychology of per-

ception imbedded m a thoroughgoing general psychology must in-

quire into

all

the conditions fonn al as well as functional which


17/19

3 0 JEROME BRUNER

AND LEO

POSTMAN

make increasing hnkages with other areasof behavior theory T hi

will involve theexpression of aesthetic and theoretical preferences

Perceptual theory

of the

kind

we

have been talking abo ut

may b

come

as

badly riven tomorrow

as

motivation

and

leamm g theone

are nven today^for these

are the

kinds

of

theory with which wor

m perception must make contact

We

close

on the

rueful note tha

perhaps

ten

years hence there will appear

in

some promment

psy

chological periodical an article entitled, "There Are Six Kindso

Perception Butsuch m ultiphcity ispreferable to a schizoid sepa

ration between perreption on the onehand and everything elseo

the other.

RES-EBENCES

1 ATKINSON, J W, ANDMCCLELLAND, D C The projective exprsioD o

needs II Theeffect of different intensities of the hunger drive onthemat

apperception

/

exp

Psychol

1948,

38,

643-6SS

2 BLAKE, R , ANDVANDESPLAS, J M Selective sensitization m auditorype

ception

/ Personal

15149,

18 m

press)

3 BRALY,K W Theinfluenceof past expenence u visual perception / ex

Psychol

1933,

16,

613-643

4

BKACMAN,

I The

role

of

personal religious values

and

speafic reward

in th

determination of size perception Hcxiors thesis, Raddiffe College,1949

5. BsuNER, J S, AND

GOODMAN,

C C Value andneed as organizing facto

m perception

/ abnorm

soc

Psychol. 1947, 42,

33-44

6 BKUNES, J S , AND POSTMAN, L Symbolic valueas an organizing factori

perception.

/

soc

Psychol 1948, 27,

203-208

7 BRUNEK, J S , AND POSTMAN, L Tension and tension releaseas organizin

factors

m

perception

/ Personal 1947, 15,

300-308

. 8

BRUNEK,

J S, AN D

POSTMAN,

L Perceptionof incongruity aparadigm.

Personal m

press).

9

BKUNSWIK,

E

Systemattc

and

representative destgn

of

psychological exper

ments Umv of

Calif Press,

1947

10

BRUNSWIK, E

Distal focussing

of

perception size constancy

m a

represent

tive sampleof situations Psychol Monog r 1944,W, No 1

11

CAKTEK, L ,

AN D

SCHOOLER, E

Value, need

and

other factors

in

perceptio

Psychol Rev 1949, , 200-208

12 DjANG,S Theroleof past experience in the visual apprehension of maske

forms / exp

Psychol

1937,2,29-59

13 DuNCKEK^E The influence of past expenence upon perceptual propertie

Amer J Psychol 1939,52,25S-26S

14

ELLSON,

D G

Hallucinations produced

by

sensory ccndittoning

/

exp

Psychol

1941,28, 1-20


18/19

PERCEPTION, COGNITION, ANDBEHAVIOR 31

19 HENLE,

M An

experimental investigationofpast experience

as

adeterminant

of visual form perception / exp

Psychol

1942,M, 1-21

20 HiLGASi),E

Theones

of

learning New

Y ork Appleton-Century,1941

21 KtEiN,

G,

AND ScHLESiNGEa,

H

Whereis theperceiverinpercepttial theory?

J Personal

1949, 18,

32-47

22 KOFFKA,K

Prtnctples

of

gestalt psychology New

Y ork Harcourt Brace,

1935

23 LAMBEKT, W , SOLOMON, R L , ANDW A T S O N , P Reinforcement and ex-

tinction

as

factors

in

size estunaticm

/ exp

Psychol 1949,

>9 in

press)

24 LEVINE, R., CHKIN, I , AND MXJWHY, G Therelation of theintensity of a

need

to the

amountofperceptual distortion,apreliminary report J

Psychol

1942, la,283-293

25 MCCLEARY, J , AND LAZAKUS, R Autonomic discrimination without aware-

ness an interim report / Personal 1949,18 inpress)

26

MCCLELLAND,

D C ,

AND

ATKINSON,

J W The

projective expression

of

needs I

The

effect of diEerent intensitiesof

the

hunger dnve

on

perception.

J Psychol

1948,25,205-222

27

McGiNNiES, E Ejnotionality andperceptual defense

Psych

Rev 1949,

St, 244-251

28. MILLER, G A, POSTMAN, L, AND BRUMER, J S Statistical probabihtyand

speedof recognition m preparation)

29 POSTMAN, L ,

AND

BRUNES, J S Multiphaty of set as a determinant of

percei^ual organization.

/ exp

Psychol 1949,

i9

369-377

30

POSTMAN,

L ,

AND BRUNEK,

J S Satisfacticm and deprivationasdetermmants

of perceptual orgamzation. Paper read

at

Eastern Psychological Association,

spring,1949

^ POSTMAN,L , BRUNER,

J S,

AND MCGINNIES,

E

Personal values

as

selective

factors inperception /

abnorm

soc

Psychol

1948, 83,148-153

32

PROSHANSKY,

H , AND

MURPHY,

G Theeffects of reward andpumshment

on perception. / Psychol 1942,H,293-305

3 RoDRiGUES,J Perceptual values asdeterminants of perceptual org^amzation.

Honors thesis. Harvard Umversity,

1949

34

SANFORS,

R.

N

Theeffect

of

abstinence from food upon lmaginal processes

J Psychol 1936,

2,129-136

35

SANTORD,

R.

N

The

effect

of

abstinence from food upon lmaginal processes

a further experiment /

Psychol

1937,3,145-159

36 ScHATER,R.,AND MuKPHY,G Theroleofautismin avisual figure-ground

relationship /

exp

Psychol 1943,32,335-343

37 SoLOMAN,R.,AND HowEs,D H Verbal frequwicyas adeterminantofper-

ceptual thresholds Paper readatEastern Psychological Assoaation , spring,

1949

38 T-

tion

and

cognition

/

Persotuxl

1949, 18, 6-13

40 WERTHEIMER, H Untersuchungen zur Lehre von der Gestalt, II

Psychol


19/19

Documents

Perception, Cognition, and Behavior