CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 993Visual perception and processing mechanismsSport Psychology and PerformanceMotor Control and Adaptation

Perceptual learning: Differentiation or enrichment?

Gibson, James J., Gibson, Eleanor J.·1955·Psychological Review
DOI 10.1037/h0048826
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

means different things to different psychologists. To some it implies that human perception is, in large part, learned—that we learn to see depth, for instance, or form, or meaningful objects. In that case the theoretical issue involved is how much of perception is learned, and the corresponding controversy is that of nativism or empiricism. To others the term implies that human learning is in whole or part a matter of perception—that learning depends on comprehension, expectation, or insight, and that the learning process is to be found in a central process of cognition rather than in a motor process of performance.. In this second case, the theoretical issue involved is whether or not one has to study a man's perceptions before one can understand his behavior, and the controversy is one of long standing which began with oldfashioned behaviorism. These two sets of implications are by no means the same, and the two problems should be separated. The problem of the role of learning in perception has to do with perception and the effect of past experience or practice on it. The problem of the role of perception in learning has to do with behavior and the question of whether we can learn to do something by perceiving, or whether we can only learn by doing it. The questions, then, are these: (a) In 1 This paper is a revision, with added experimental material, of one given in May 1953 at a symposium on the psychology of learning basic to problems of military training (8) conducted…

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/h0048826

Cites

0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Ecological psychology aims to explain how a perceiver learns to differentiate the information specifying what the animal can do.

    “ecological psychology aims to explain how a perceiver learns to differentiate the information that specifies what the animals can do (J.J. Gibson & Gibson, 1955).”

    From Productive pluralism: The coming of age of ecological psychology. (2024) · cites this paper as J.J. Gibson & Gibson, 1955

    The Conclusion (p. 9) describes perceptual learning as becoming more sensitive to differences in the stimulus array, supporting the differentiation part of the claim. The paper does not say that the information being differentiated specifies what animals can do; its examples concern identifying objects and discriminating stimuli. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 12

  1. [1]1. BruNER, J. S. Personality dynamics and the process of perceiving. In R. R. Blake & G. V. Ramsey (Eds.), Perception: an approach to personality. New York: Ronald, 1951. Pp. 121–147.
  2. [3]3. CANTRIL, H., AMES, A., JR., HaSTORF, A. H., & IrtELsoN, W. H. Psychology and scientific research. Science, 1949, 110, 461–464, 491–497, 517–522.
  3. [4]4. GIBsoN, ELEANoR J. A systematic application of the concepts of generalization and differentiation to verbal learning. Psychol. Rev., 1940, 47, 196–229.
  4. [6]6. GIBSON, ELEANOR J., & GIBsON, J. J. The identifying response: a study of a neglected form of learning. Amer. Psychologist, 1950, 7, 276. (Abstract)
  5. [5]5. GIBsoN, ELEANoR J. Improvement in perceptual judgments as a function of controlled practice or training. Psychol. Bull., 1953, 50, 401–431.
  6. [7]7. GisoN, J. J. (Ed.) Motion picture testing and research. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1947. (AAF Aviat. Psychol. Program Res. Rep., No. 7.)
  7. [8]8. GIBSON, J. J., & GrBSON, ELEaNoR J. Perceptual learning in relation to training. In Symposium on psychology of learning basic to military training problems. Dept. of Defense, HR-HTD-201-1, 1953, 151–159.
  8. [10]10. HnGARD, E. R. The role of learning in 15. LEEPER, R. A study of a neglected portion of the field of learning—the development of sensory organization. J. genet. Psychol., 1935, 46, 41–75.
  9. [2]2. perception. In R. R. Blake & G. V. Ramsey (Eds.), Perception: an approach to personality. New York: Ronald, 1951. Pp. 95–120.
  10. [11]11. ITTELsoN, W. H. The constancies in perceptual theory. Psychol. Rev., 1951, 58, 285-294.
  11. [13]13. KELLER, F. S. Studies in International Morse Code. I. A new method of teaching code reception. J. appl. Psychol., 1943, 27, 407–415.
  12. [16]16. PostMAN, L. Toward a general theory of cognition. In J. H. Rohrer & M. Sherif (Eds.), Social psychology at the crossroads. New York: Harper, 1951. Pp. 242-272.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Gibson, J. J., & Gibson, E. J.
Affiliations
Cornell University (US)
Venue
Psychological Review
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
1955
Volume
62
Issue
1
Pages
32-41
ISSN
  • 0033-295X (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1471
DOI
10.1037/h0048826
OpenAlex
W1986345213
Cited by
993
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 33 · 2020: 45 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 14
FWCI
18.36
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Psychological Review (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Sport Psychology and Performance
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
Keywords
perceptual learning, hands-on learning, perception and behavior, insight learning, behaviorism, military education, depth perception, shape perception
MeSH terms
Humans, Learning

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review