ISSN-L 1618-3169 · ISSN-Print 1618-3169 · ISSN-Online 2190-5142
Experimental
Psychology
www.hogrefe.com/journals/exppsy
Edited by
T. Meiser (Editor-in-Chief)
T. Beckers · A. Bröder · A. Diederich
K. Epstude · C. Frings · A. Kiesel · M. Perea
K. Rothermund · M.C. Steffens · S. Tremblayy
C. Unkelbach · F. Verbruggen
Experimental
Psychology
Your article has appeared in a journal published by Hogrefe Publishing.
This e-offprint is provided exclusively for the personal use of the authors. It may not be
posted on a personal or institutional website or to an institutional or disciplinary repository.
If you wish to post the article to your personal or institutional website or to archive it
in an institutional or disciplinary repository, please use either a pre-print or a post-print of
your manuscript in accordance with the publication release for your article and our
‘‘Online Rights for Journal Articles’’ (www.hogrefe.com/journals).
Author’s personal copy (e-offprint)
Research Article
When Seeing a Dog Activates
the Bark
Multisensory Generalization and Distinctiveness Effects
Lionel Brunel,1 Robert L. Goldstone,2 Guillaume Vallet,3 Benoit Riou,3
and Rémy Versace3
1
Laboratoire Epsylon, Université Paul-Valery, Montpellier 3, France, 2Department of Psychological and
Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA, 3Laboratoire d’Etude des Mécanismes
Cognitifs (EMC), Université Lumière Lyon 2, France
Abstract. The goal of the present study was to find evidence for a multisensory generalization effect (i.e., generalization from one sensory
modality to another sensory modality). The authors used an innovative paradigm (adapted from Brunel, Labeye, Lesourd, & Versace, 2009)
involving three phases: a learning phase, consisting in the categorization of geometrical shapes, which manipulated the rules of association
between shapes and a sound feature, and two test phases. The first of these was designed to examine the priming effect of the geometrical shapes
seen in the learning phase on target tones (i.e., priming task), while the aim of the second was to examine the probability of recognizing the
previously learned geometrical shapes (i.e., recognition task). When a shape category was mostly presented with a sound during learning, all of
the primes (including those not presented with a sound in the learning phase) enhanced target processing compared to a condition in which the
primes were mostly seen without a sound during learning. A pattern of results consistent with this initial finding was also observed during
recognition, with the participants being unable to pick out the shape seen without a sound during the learning phase. Experiment 1 revealed a
multisensory generalization effect across the members of a category when the objects belonging to the same category share the same value on the
shape dimension. However, a distinctiveness effect was observed when a salient feature distinguished the objects within the category (Experiment
2a vs. 2b).
Keywords: multisensory memory, exemplar-based memory, featural vs. dimensional selective attention, generalization, distinctiveness
The starting point for our study is the observation that, when
asked to think about an object, people tend (implicitly or
not) to infer that the object possesses perceptual properties
that other objects do not. Although these properties are often
visual, they frequently involve other sensory modalities.
For example, we might have learned that an Object i (e.g.,
a dog) possesses not only certain visual properties (e.g., four
legs) but also auditory properties (e.g., it barks). If we see a
new object, we can readily distinguish it from Object i.
However, if this new object is identified as belonging to
the same category as Object i, we can generalize some of
i’s properties to this new object even if these properties
are not perceptually present in the new object. In other
words, we could infer that a dog can bark even if, in the
present situation, it does not do so.
Generalization effects have been explained and operationalized within several different memory perspectives
(i.e., prototype-based, Rosch & Mervis, 1975; boundarybased, Ashby & Towsend, 1986; feature-based, Tversky,
1977; and exemplar-based, Logan, 2002, and Nosofsky,
1986, 1991). However, none of these approaches has explicitly considered the possibility that generalization might
Ó 2012 Hogrefe Publishing
occur with modalities other than vision or indeed between
two distinct sensory modalities. A basic claim relating to
the exemplar-based perspective is that our memories are
based on a collection of multiple instances represented by
their locations within a multidimensional psychological
space. The generalization of inferences from one exemplar
to another is then inversely related to their distance in a psychological space (Shepard, 1987). The effectiveness of the
memory system is simply determined by an interaction
between a perceptual cue (given by the task) and a set of
exemplars activated by the cue (see also Hintzman, 1986).
In this view, the probability that a given cue will activate
an exemplar is directly linked to the similarity relation,
across a set of dimensions (e.g., size, color), between a currently perceived object and exemplars in memory. The
weight of a dimension is influenced by its diagnosticity
for categorization or recognition (see Nosofsky, 1991).
Thus, the probability of generalization (i.e., assimilation of
a presented object’s inferred dimensions to the corresponding dimension values of exemplars already known to belong
to a category) increases as the similarity of an object to
exemplars increases, particularly along dimensions that are
Experimental Psychology 2012
DOI: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000176
Author’s personal copy (e-offprint)
2
L. Brunel et al.: Multisensory Generalization and Distinctiveness Effects
diagnostic for categorization. In other words, the generalization effect depends on: 1) the distribution of the exemplars
in the psychological space (see Shepard, 1987), and 2) the
dimensional similarity between a probed object and exemplars, with dimensions weighted according to their diagnosticity for relevant categorizations.
However, this kind of model tells us nothing about: (1)
the formation of memory exemplars and (2) the nature of
these exemplars. There is now an increasing amount of evidence concerning the existence of multisensory memory
traces or exemplars (for a review, see Versace, Labeye,
Badard, & Rose, 2009) deriving from both brain imagery
studies (e.g., Beisteiner, Höllinger, Lindinger, Lang, &
Berthoz, 1995; Bensafi, Sobel, & Khan, 2007; Martin,
Haxby, Lalonde, Wiggs, & Ungerleider, 1995; Wheeler,
Petersen, & Buckner, 2000) and behavioral studies (Brunel,
Labeye, et al., 2009; Brunel, Lesourd, Labeye, & Versace,
2010; Connell & Lynott, 2010; Pecher, Zeelenberg, &
Barsalou, 2004; Riou, Lesourd, Brunel, & Versace, 2011;
Topolinski, 2012; Vallet, Brunel, & Versace, 2010; Van
Dantzig, Pecher, Zeelenberg, & Barsalou, 2008). Once perceived, the perceptual properties of a multisensory object
can be preserved in memory in the form of an exemplar.
This is due to an integration mechanism that allows for
the creation of durable links between perceptual properties
within the same memory representation (see Brunel, Labeye,
et al., 2009; Hommel, 1998; Labeye, Oker, Badard, &
Versace, 2008). Contrary to simple associative learning
(see Hall, 1991), once features are integrated within an
exemplar, it is difficult to access the individual features
(see Labeye et al., 2008; Richter & Zwaan, 2010). This
new unit, once acquired, becomes a functional ‘‘building
block’’ for subsequent processing and learning (in language,
Richter & Zwaan, 2010; in memory, Labeye et al., 2008; or
attention, Delvenne, Cleeremans, & Laloyaux, 2009). Once
two features have become integrated, the presence of one feature automatically suggests the presence of the other. In this
view, the integration mechanism is a fundamental mechanism
of perceptual learning (see the unitization mechanism,
Goldstone, 2000) or contingency learning (see Schmidt &
De Houwer, 2012; Schmidt, De Houwer, & Besner, 2010).
Multisensory memory representations can be seen as a
logical extension of an exemplar-based memory model,
whose basic claim is that an exemplar is represented by a
set of features. Consequently, the current study focuses on
finding evidence of generalization within a multisensory
memory perspective. The implications of a multisensory
view of memory for generalization are not empirically
tested.
The Present Study
The present study focuses on generalization across two sensory modalities, specifically visual and auditory. We selected
two visual dimensions (color and shape) and the auditory
dimension of pitch. We intentionally chose pitch because:
Experimental Psychology 2012
(1) previous work has shown strong multisensory integration between these visual modalities and pitch (Brunel,
Labeye, et al., 2009; Brunel, Lesourd, et al., 2010; Vallet
et al., 2010, see also Hommel, 1998; Labeye et al., 2008;
Meyer, Baumann, Marchina, & Jancke, 2007), and (2) it
is easy to experimentally manipulate both the visual and
auditory modalities.
There is clear evidence that categorization involves the
multisensory representation of stimulus information
(e.g., Chen & Spence, 2010; Cooke, Jäkel, Wallraven, &
Bülthoff, 2007; Schneider, Engel, & Debener, 2008;
Vallet et al., 2010) and also mediates perceptual learning
(Brunel, Labeye, et al., 2009; Brunel, Lesourd, et al.,
2010; Goldstone, 1994; Goldstone, Gerganov, Landy, &
Roberts, 2008). For instance, the categorization of an object
presented in a given modality is associated with the activation of properties of the object in other modalities. A wellknown example of this comes from the literature on
cross-modal priming (Schneider et al., 2008; Vallet et al.,
2010). Vallet et al. (2010) demonstrated that cross-modal
priming can be a robust phenomenon which they explained
in terms of the multisensory view of memory. In their experiment, participants first categorized visual stimuli (e.g., dog)
and then, shortly afterwards, the corresponding sounds (e.g.,
a dog’s bark). When the visual stimuli were presented simultaneously with an auditory mask, the corresponding sounds
were categorized as new sounds, unlike the unmasked items,
which were categorized faster than the new ones (i.e., crossmodal priming). The authors explained their main results as
follows: ‘‘The sensory mask interfered with the automatic
activation of the other sensory component of the memory
trace activated by the stimulus’’ (Vallet et al., 2010,
p. 381). In the same vein, Brunel and coworkers have demonstrated within a behavioral context that the activation of
an auditory memory component (a component that is not
really present) can influence the perceptual processing of a
sound (Brunel, Labeye, et al., 2009) or of an object that is
accompanied by a sound (Brunel, Lesourd, et al., 2010;
see also Van Dantzig et al., 2008). More precisely, using a
short-term priming paradigm, they demonstrated that the
presentation of a prime shape that has been associated with
a sound during a learning phase automatically activates the
auditory component (see also Meyer et al., 2007) and influences the processing of target sounds (irrespective of
whether they are low or high pitched) unlike prime shapes
seen without an accompanying sound during learning.
Given that our previous studies used a systematic rule of
association (a particular shape was systematically presented
with a sound during learning), they did not provide us with
any information about whether learned multisensory integration is specific or general.
Multisensory generalization could be described as the
probability that a unisensory cue (e.g., visual) will activate
previously learned multisensory exemplars (e.g., visual
and auditory) and then ‘‘benefits’’ from a property belonging
to a different modality (e.g., sound). In other words, our aim
was to provide evidence that if, during learning, we find out
that X (e.g., a shape) is a dimension frequently associated
Ó 2012 Hogrefe Publishing
Author’s personal copy (e-offprint)
L. Brunel et al.: Multisensory Generalization and Distinctiveness Effects
3
with Y (e.g., a sound) and that X is a diagnostic dimension,
then further processing of X alone as a cue should automatically activate XY exemplars irrespective of the current
task.
Experiment 1
To reveal evidence relating to such an effect, we employed a
three-phase paradigm adapted from our previous work
(Brunel, Labeye, et al., 2009; Brunel, Lesourd et al.,
2010). In the first phase, the participants had to categorize
geometrical shapes into categories that were well known
to them (i.e., circles and squares). In addition to the categorization task, we manipulated the rules of association
between shapes and a sound feature as well as the colors
and sounds that were used (see Figure 1). For example, in
the ‘‘Sound Category’’ condition, the non-isolated squares
were presented simultaneously with a sound feature whereas
a single isolated square was not. Similarly, in the ‘‘NoSound Category’’ condition, the non-isolated circles were
presented alone whereas one isolated circle was presented
in combination with a sound feature. As Figure 1 indicates,
isolated objects were always displayed in a color consistent
with their isolation status (i.e., if the isolated square in the
Sound Category condition was red, all shapes displayed in
red were presented without sound). At the end of the learning phase, we predicted that the shape dimension should be
a diagnostic dimension for further processing, because categorization that depends on one dimension leads to perceptual sensitization on this dimension and desensitization to
variation along other dimensions (Goldstone, 1994).
The second phase consisted of a tone categorization task
(either low-pitched or high-pitched tones). Each tone was
preceded by a visual prime shape as part of a short-term
priming paradigm. These shapes were the same as those presented in the first phase. However, in this phase they were
systematically presented without an accompanying sound.
The third phase took the form of a recognition memory task
which referred back to the learning phase. The participants
completed two successive recognition tasks. They saw the
shapes from the Sound Category condition and had to indicate which of them had been presented without sound during the learning phase. Similarly, they saw shapes from the
No-Sound Category condition and had to determine which
of them had been presented with sound during the learning
phase. Our predictions in this experiment focused directly
on the probability that isolated prime objects would or
would not activate the sound feature (i.e., priming effect
induced by isolated objects for both categories). Basically,
if the probability of a multisensory exemplar being activated
depends on the similarity of the exemplars on a diagnostic
dimension, we predict that activation in response to the isolated prime shape seen in the Sound Category condition
would be greater along the shape dimension (because it
was the diagnostic dimension for the categorization) than
Ó 2012 Hogrefe Publishing
Figure 1. Illustration of the basic manipulations used in
the learning phase in all experiments. For each trial, the
participants had to categorize the shape displayed on the
screen as a ‘‘square’’ or a ‘‘circle.’’ Any given shape could
belong to one category or the other (Sound or No-Sound)
and could be Non-isolated or Isolated. Isolation refers to
the status of the shape with reference to its category. In
Experiment 1, all the shapes were displayed in color
(respectively, red, green, yellow, and blue), whereas in
Experiment 2, the shapes were displayed in shades of gray.
the color dimension. There is therefore a high probability
that this prime shape will activate the sound feature (i.e.,
priming effect) even though it was previously experienced
without sound. If this is the case, participants should also
have difficulty identifying the colors associated with the isolated objects. In the case of the isolated prime shape seen in
the No-Sound Category condition, activation should be
greater along the shape dimension (because it was the diagnostic dimension for the categorization) than color dimension. There is therefore a high probability that this prime
shape will not activate the sound feature even though it
was experienced with this feature. Consequently, participants should also have difficulty identifying the colors associated with the isolated objects.
In sum, we predicted (for both isolated shapes) a generalization effect along the shape dimension in terms of both
priming and recognition accuracy. More precisely, we
expected to observe a ‘‘multisensory’’ generalization effect
(i.e., generalization of multisensory integration) for the isolated object seen in the Sound Category condition. Even
though this object was experienced without sound, if it is
assimilated with the other objects possessing the same
shape, then, when used as a prime, it should enhance the categorization of the target tones and should not be recognized
as having been presented without a sound. Similarly, we
expected a ‘‘unisensory’’ generalization effect for the isolated object seen in the No-Sound Category condition. This
means that even though this object was experienced with a
sound, it should not, when used as a prime, significantly
influence the categorization of the target tones and should
also not be recognized as having been presented with a
sound. Our predictions therefore suggest that we should
only observe a significant main effect of Category Type.
Experimental Psychology 2012
Author’s personal copy (e-offprint)
4
L. Brunel et al.: Multisensory Generalization and Distinctiveness Effects
Each prime shape seen in the Sound Category condition
should enhance the categorization of tones compared to
those seen in the No-Sound Category condition. Similarly,
the performances of the participants should not differ from
chance level (i.e., 25%) in either recognition task.
Method
Participants
Thirty-two right-handed voluntary participants were
recruited for Experiment 1. All of them were students at
the University Lumière Lyon 2 (France) and had normal
or corrected-to-normal vision.
Apparatus
The visual stimuli were geometric shapes in the form of
either a 7 cm square or a circle with a radius of 3.66 cm.
The square and circle could be displayed in four different
colors1 (CIE L*a*b setting values are indicated in parentheses): yellow (L: 95.66, a: 7.96, b: 77.70), red (L: 54.36, a:
66.26, b: 54.44), blue (L: 39.24, a: 28.38, b: 91.03), and
green (L: 85.44, a: 55.74, b: 68.19). The auditory stimuli
consisted of a white noise, which was used in the learning
task, whereas two pure tones, namely a high-pitched tone
(312 Hz) and low-pitched tone (256 Hz), were used for
the priming task. All the auditory stimuli were presented
in mono through headphones and had a duration of 500 ms.
Procedure
After filling out a written consent form, each participant was
tested individually in a session lasting approximately
15 min. The first phase (we use the term ‘‘learning task’’
to refer to this task) consisted of a shape categorization task
involving two categories: circle and square. Each circle and
square could be displayed in one of four colors. Within this
categorization task, we manipulated the pattern of association between shapes and the sound feature, as well as the
colors and sounds used (see Figure 1). For example, in
the Sound Category condition, each square (Non-isolated)
except for one (Isolated) was presented simultaneously with
a sound feature. Similarly, in the No-Sound Category condition, each circle (Non-isolated) except for one (Isolated) was
presented with no-sound feature. The isolated object in the
No-Sound Category condition was always displayed in a
color presented with sound (irrespective of the category)
1
while the opposite was true for the isolated object seen in
the Sound Category condition (i.e., always displayed in a
color presented without sound irrespective of the category).
The same design was used for each of the two shapes. For
half of the participants, the squares were presented in the
Sound Category condition and the circles in the No-Sound
Category condition, with the procedure being reversed for
the other half. In the same way, the colors were counterbalanced between participants so that each color was also seen
in each condition. In each trial, a shape (square or circle)
was presented for 500 ms either alone or together with a
white noise. The participants were told that their task was
to judge, as quickly and accurately as possible, whether
the shape was a square or a circle and to respond by pressing
the appropriate key on the keyboard. All the visual stimuli
were presented in the center of the screen, and the intertrial
interval was 1,500 ms. Each shape was presented 40 times
(10 times for each of the four colors) in random order. Half
of the participants used their right index finger to respond
‘‘square’’ and their right middle finger to respond ‘‘circle.’’
For the other half of the participants, the response fingers
were reversed.
The second phase of the experiment (the ‘‘Priming
task’’) consisted of a tone categorization task in which each
target tone was preceded by a visual prime (short-term priming paradigm). The prime was one of the shapes presented
during the learning phase. For all the participants, the prime
was presented for 500 ms. It was immediately followed by a
target, which was either a high-pitched or a low-pitched
sound. The participants had to judge as quickly and accurately as possible whether the target sound was low pitched
or high pitched, and to respond by pressing the appropriate
key on the keyboard. The participants were told to keep their
eyes open throughout this phase. Given that the target
appeared as soon as the prime disappeared, the SOA
between the prime and the target was also 500 ms. All of
the visual stimuli were presented in the center of the screen,
and the intertrial interval was 1,500 ms. Each participant
saw a total of 80 trials, that is, 40 with each target sound,
half (20) of them with a prime shape seen in the Sound Category condition and the other half (20) with a prime shape
seen in the No-Sound Category condition. The order of
the different experimental conditions was randomized.
The third phase consisted of a forced-choice recognition
task (referred to as the ‘‘Recognition task’’), during which
the participants had to complete two successive recognition
tests. Importantly, all the participants were informed at the
beginning of the experiment that they would have to perform a recognition task, but they were not told what kind
of question they would have to answer. The first recognition
test related to the isolated shape seen in the Sound Category
We ran a preexperiment (16 participants) on our visual stimuli in order to ensure that participants represented objects in terms of shape and
color dimensions and that neither of these dimensions was more salient than the other. Consequently, we recorded the similarity judgments
of participants given in response to pairs of objects that we had previously subjected to a multidimensional scaling analysis (for a review,
see Nosofsky, 1992). The participants rated the similarity between the objects in terms of both their shape and color (CIE L*a*b). Each of
these dimensions seemed to be approximately equally relevant for the similarity judgments. Consequently, the combination of these
dimensions meant that each object had a relatively homogeneous level of similarity for either color or shape.
Experimental Psychology 2012
Ó 2012 Hogrefe Publishing
Author’s personal copy (e-offprint)
L. Brunel et al.: Multisensory Generalization and Distinctiveness Effects
5
Table 1. Mean response times (RTs in ms) and mean correct response (CR) rates in each experimental condition (standard
errors are in parentheses) in the learning task in Experiments 1, 2a, and 2b
Isolation
Non-isolated
Isolated
Category
RT
CR
RT
CR
Experiment 1
SC prime
NSC prime
479 (13)
521 (14)
0.95 (.01)
0.96 (.01)
543 (14)
476 (11)
0.92 (.01)
0.97 (.01)
Experiment 2a
SC prime
NSC prime
462 (16)
512 (17)
0.93 (.01)
0.93 (.01)
540 (18)
462 (17)
0.88 (.03)
0.94 (.01)
Experiment 2b
SC prime
NSC prime
496 (15)
523 (16)
0.95 (.01)
0.94 (.01)
567 (22)
480 (14)
0.91 (.01)
0.95 (.02)
Notes. SC = Sound Category; NSC = No-Sound Category.
condition. The participants had to recognize the shape presented with no accompanying sound from among those
presented with a sound during the learning phase. The second recognition test related to the isolated shape seen in the
No-Sound Category condition, with the participants having
to identify the shape that was presented with a sound from
among those presented without sound during the learning
phase. In each of the tests, the participants indicated their
response by pressing the appropriate key on the keyboard.
The order of the questions was counterbalanced across
subjects.
Results and Discussion
Learning Task
The mean correct response latencies and mean percentages
of correct responses were calculated across subjects for each
experimental condition. Latencies below 250 ms and above
1,250 ms were removed (this same cut-off2 was used
throughout all the experiments and never resulted in the
exclusion of more than 3% of the data). The participants performed the shape categorization task very accurately (overall
correct response rate of 95%, see Table 2).
Separate analyses of variance were performed on latencies and correct response rates, with Subject as a random
variable, and Category Type (Sound Category vs. No-Sound
Category) and Isolation (isolated vs. non-isolated shapes) as
within-subject factors. The same analyses were conducted
for the learning task in all the experiments (see Table 1).
Analyses revealed a main effect of Category for both latencies, F(1, 31) = 5.26, p < .05, g2p = .15, and correct response rates, F(1, 31) = 9.49, p < .05, g2p = .23. The
participants were significantly worse at categorizing shapes
from the Sound Category (RT = 512 ms, SE = 12 ms;
CR = .93, SE = .01) than from the No-Sound Category
2
(RT = 499 ms, SE = 12 ms; CR = .96, SE = .01). Most
interestingly, we observed a significant interaction between
Category Type and Isolation: F(1, 31) = 103.06, p < .05,
g2p = .77, for latencies, and F(1, 31) = 7.22, p < .01,
g2p = .19, for correct responses.
In the Sound Category condition, the isolated object
took longer to process than the non-isolated ones,
F(1, 31) = 51.86, p < .05, and it was also processed marginally less accurately, F(1, 31) = 3.41, p = .07. In contrast,
in the No-Sound Category condition, the isolated object was
processed faster, F(1, 31) = 34.65, p < .05, but not significantly more accurately, F < 1, than the non-isolated ones.
Every shape that was presented with a sound was categorized faster than those presented without a sound, irrespective of category. These results support our predictions by
revealing that the participants paid attention to the sound
feature during the visual shape categorization task and used
it as a cue for categorization.
Priming Task
Separate analyses of variance were performed on latencies
and percentages of correct responses, with subjects as random variables, and Category Type (prime based on the
shapes seen in the Sound Category or No-Sound Category
conditions), and Isolation (isolated vs. non-isolated) as
within-subject factors. Once again, the participants performed this task accurately (94% correct on average, see
Table 2).
The analyses revealed a significant main effect of Category Type for both latencies, F(1, 31) = 10.19, p < .05,
g2p = .24, and correct response rates, F(1, 31) = 23.46,
p < .05, g2p = .43. Neither a significant main effect of isolation nor an interaction between Category Type and Isolation
was observed for either latencies, F < 1, g2p = .03, or correct
response rates, F < 1, g2p = .04. The responses were significantly faster and more accurate (RT = 521 ms, SE = 24;
We chose this particular cut-off in the light of our previous works (Brunel, Labeye et al., 2009; Brunel, Lesourd et al., 2010). It did not
affect the results in any noteworthy way.
Ó 2012 Hogrefe Publishing
Experimental Psychology 2012
Author’s personal copy (e-offprint)
6
L. Brunel et al.: Multisensory Generalization and Distinctiveness Effects
Table 2. Mean reaction times (RTs in ms) and correct response (CR) rates in each experimental condition (standard errors
are given in parentheses) during the priming task in Experiments 1, 2a, and 2b
Isolation
Non-isolated
Isolated
Category
RT
CR
RT
CR
Experiment 1
SC prime
NSC prime
527 (23)
540 (24)
0.96 (.01)
0.93 (.01)
515 (25)
544 (25)
0.97 (.02)
0.92 (.02)
Experiment 2a
SC prime
NSC prime
526 (24)
553 (23)
0.94 (.02)
0.92 (.02)
550 (25)
528 (23)
0.94 (.02)
0.92 (.02)
Experiment 2b
SC prime
NSC prime
571 (26)
587 (25)
0.91 (.02)
0.91 (.02)
558 (24)
600 (25)
0.91 (.02)
0.91 (.02)
Notes. SC = Sound Category; NSC = No-Sound Category.
CR = 0.96, SE = 0.01) when the target tone was preceded
by an exemplar from the Sound Category rather than the
No-Sound Category (RT = 542 ms, SE = 25; CR = 0.93,
SE = 0.01). As Figure 2 shows, the isolated exemplars produced the same direction of priming as the non-isolated
exemplars of the same category. This means, for example,
that a priming effect on tone identification was observed
for the isolated exemplar from the Sound Category, even
though it was presented without a sound feature. Likewise,
no significant priming effect was observed for the isolated
exemplar in the No-Sound Category, despite the fact that
it was presented accompanied by a sound feature.
Recognition Task
A correct recognition percentage was calculated for the two
recognition tests, and Student’s tests (t-tests – two tailed)
were run to compare each score with chance level (25%).
When the participants were required to pick out the isolated
shape seen in the Sound Category condition, the correct recognition rate was 12.5%, a score that was actually significantly below chance level, t(31) = 2.10, p < .05. This
low accuracy score did not reflect a bias toward a particular
color. In fact, the distribution of recognition responses
among participants (irrespective of whether the response
was correct) was relatively homogeneous. Each color was
indicated with equal frequency. It seems reasonable to
assume that the participants were biased toward non-isolated
shapes because they thought that the isolated shape had been
presented together with a sound. When the participants had
to identify the isolated shape seen in the No-Sound Category
condition, the correct recognition rate was 28.13% and did
not differ significantly from chance level, t < 1.
Overall, the results of this experiment can be explained
in terms of multisensory generalization. In the case of
the learning task, there is evidence that the participants
were sensitized to the manipulation of the implicit association between visual objects (color and shape) and sound.
3
In general, categorization was faster and more accurate
when the shape was accompanied by a sound feature, irrespective of its category. This result suggests that the participants paid attention to the sound feature and could use it as
a cue when performing the task. However, the most interesting results concerned the two following tasks (i.e., the priming and recognition tasks). First, we showed that only the
prime shapes belonging to the Sound Category made discrimination of the target sound easier, regardless of whether
the shape was associated with the white noise (non-isolated
prime) or not (isolated prime). This is, in fact, a replication
of the results observed by Brunel, Labeye, and coworkers
(2009) in their Experiment 1.3 A shape previously associated with a sound and presented as a prime is able to preactivate, and as a consequence to facilitate, immediate sound
processing (in this case, in a tone categorization task). However, our main interest resided in the results for the isolated
exemplar in both the priming and recognition tasks. The results obtained for the isolated exemplar in the Sound
Category condition provide evidence of multisensory generalization, whereas those obtained for the isolated exemplars
in both categories indicate that the generalization effect is directly determined by the summed activation between objects
and exemplars in memory. When the isolated exemplar in
the Sound Category was a prime, it helped in tone categorization and was not recognized significantly above chance level. When the isolated exemplar in the No-Sound Category
was a prime, it did not significantly influence categorization
of the tone and was not recognized significantly above
chance level.
This pattern of data was probably due to the homogeneous distribution of the exemplars within the shape and
color dimensions. In other words, within each category, each
exemplar (including its color and shape) was equally effective in activating all of the other exemplars and was also
able to activate the corresponding exemplar with the same
color across categories. However, because the summed
activation was stronger within the categories (due to the
learning task), we observed generalization on the shape
See the referenced publication for a full discussion of the nature of this effect.
Experimental Psychology 2012
Ó 2012 Hogrefe Publishing
Author’s personal copy (e-offprint)
L. Brunel et al.: Multisensory Generalization and Distinctiveness Effects
7
predicted that an isolated object that possesses a salient
feature should not be generalized with the other exemplars
of the corresponding category. The aim of our second experiment was to test this prediction.
Experiment 2
Figure 2. Mean reaction times (RTs) for tone categorization as a function of Isolation and for each prime type in
Experiment 1. Error bars represent standard errors.
SC = Sound Category; NSC = No-Sound Category.
dimension (i.e., within category). At this point, it is not possible to say whether the same pattern of results will typically
be found for the isolated exemplars.
Our results are consistent with explanations provided
within the framework of pure similarity-based models
(e.g., Nosofsky, 1986) which hold that attention can be
selectively focused on category-relevant dimensions.
However, there is evidence that summed activation based
only on similarity to relevant dimensions is not sufficient
to predict the influence of exemplar variability on categorization (Cohen, Nosofsky, & Zaki, 2001), the distinctiveness
effect in recognition (Nosofsky & Zaki, 2003), or the inverse
base-rate effect (Johansen, Fouquet, & Shanks, 2010).
Nosofsky and Zaki (2003) proposed a ‘‘Hybrid-similarity
exemplar model’’ to account for distinctiveness effects in
recognition memory. This model represented an extension
of the Generalized Context Model (Nosofsky, 1986) and
was based on the summed activation of exemplars along
diagnostic dimensions while also making use of discretefeature matching. A stimulus with a highly salient feature
will be more similar to itself (i.e., have a greater self-match)
than a stimulus without such a feature, because matching
common features increase similarity. The result is that the
computation of summed similarities is biased toward the
exemplar with a salient feature. Johansen et al. (2010) subsequently formalized this idea in terms of a contrast between
selective dimensional attention and selective featural attention. In order to account for the inverse base-rate effect,
the exemplar-based model was modified to include both
dimensional and featural selective attention (Johansen
et al., 2010).
As far as the present study is concerned, if one feature, a
particular color for example, happens to be salient (Johansen
et al., 2010; Nosofsky & Zaki, 2003), then there might be
relatively little generalization based on shape during either
the priming or recognition tasks. A distinctiveness effect
might be observed. According to Nosofsky and Zaki
(2003), exemplars that are both isolated in psychological
space and have a salient feature tend to show a distinctiveness effect, at least in a recognition task. Accordingly, we
Ó 2012 Hogrefe Publishing
Overall, Experiment 2 used the same design as Experiment 1
but with a brightness dimension instead of a color dimension.
Brightness and shape are separable dimensions (Goldstone,
1994), and brightness varies within a continuum that, in general, causes extreme values to be less similar to other values
on this dimension than the central values are. We predicted
that there would be a distinctiveness effect (including at a
multisensory level) when the objects that were presented
in isolation during learning were associated with extreme
brightness values. More specifically, we predicted that the
isolated prime shape from the Sound Category would not
activate the sound, whereas the isolated prime shape from
the No-Sound Category would. Accordingly, we expected
to observe a significant interaction between Category Type
and Isolation in the tone categorization task. If our predictions are correct, both isolated exemplars should be recognized at above chance level (i.e., 25%), given their salient,
extreme brightness values. Similarly, if the central brightness
values are less salient, we should observe a within-category
generalization effect (i.e., on shape dimension), as in
Experiment 1 (i.e., a significant main effect of Category
Type for the tone categorization task) and the recognition
performances should not differ from chance level (i.e.,
25%).
In Experiment 2a, extreme values of gray (Gray 1 and
Gray 4) were used for the isolated objects and in Experiment
2b, central values of gray (Gray 2 and Gray 3) were used as
the colors for these objects.
Experiment 2a
Method
Participants
Thirty-two right-handed voluntary participants were
recruited for Experiment 2a. All of them were students at
the University Lumière Lyon 2 (France) and had normal
or corrected-to-normal vision.
Apparatus and Procedure
Our aim was to directly test our predictions concerning feature matching during activation by manipulating intra-category similarities in such a way that the generalization
effects previously observed for isolated exemplars would
be replaced by distinctiveness effects. In this experiment,
we used the same stimuli as in Experiment 1 except for
the colors of the shapes, which were replaced by values
Experimental Psychology 2012
Author’s personal copy (e-offprint)
8
L. Brunel et al.: Multisensory Generalization and Distinctiveness Effects
along a brightness dimension.4 The CIE L*a*b values for
each kind of gray were set in such a way that they differed
only in terms of luminance (ranging from darker to lighter,
Gray 1: 25.74, Gray 2: 48.03, Gray 3: 68.48, Gray 4: 87.75).
The learning and association conditions in Experiment 2a
were counterbalanced in the same way as in Experiment 1
and the values of Gray 1 and Gray 4 were used only for
the isolated objects in the two categories. For half of the participants, when the isolated object in the Sound Category
condition was presented in Gray 1 without a sound feature
(the corresponding non-isolated objects were displayed in
Gray 2, 3, and 4 with a sound feature), the isolated object
in the No-Sound Category condition was displayed in Gray
4 with a sound feature (the corresponding non-isolated objects were displayed in Gray 1, 2, and 3 without a sound feature). For the other half of participants, the reverse pattern
was used. There were no other changes between Experiments 1 and 2a.
Results and Discussion
Learning Task
The participants performed the shape categorization task
accurately (95% overall correct response rate, see Table 1).
Analyses revealed a significant main effect of Category
Type on latencies, F(1, 31) = 12.14, p < .05, g2p = .28,
but not on correct response rates, F < 1. The analyses revealed a significant interaction between Category Type
and Isolation for both latencies, F(1, 31) = 31.91, p < .05,
g2p = .50, and correct response rates, F(1, 31) = 5.22,
p < .05, g2p = .14. In the Sound Category condition, the
non-isolated objects were processed both faster than the
isolated ones, F(1, 31) = 22.74, p < .05, and also marginally more accurately, F(1, 31) = 3.82, p = .06. By contrast,
in the No-Sound Category condition, the isolated object was
processed faster than the non-isolated ones, F(1, 31) =
18,77 p < .05, but not more accurately, F < 1. Overall,
these results were similar to those of Experiments 1 and 2a.
Figure 3. Mean reaction times for tone categorization as
a function of isolation and for each prime type in
Experiment 2a. Error bars represent standard errors.
SC = Sound Category; NSC = No-Sound Category.
effects of Category Type nor those of Isolation were significant, F < 1. This interaction is presented in Figure 3.
As Figure 3 indicates, the non-isolated prime in the
Sound Category and the isolated prime in the No-Sound
Category enhanced the categorization of the target tones
compared to the non-isolated prime in the No-Sound
Category and the isolated prime in the Sound Category.
A planned comparison revealed a significant difference
between categorization performances induced by isolated
and non-isolated primes in the Sound Category,
F(1, 31) = 6.27, p < .05. The corresponding planned comparison for the No-Sound Category showed a significant
difference between categorization latencies for isolated and
non-isolated shapes, F(1, 31) = 10.18, p < .05. The isolated
shapes presented with white noise during the learning phase
facilitated target sound discrimination. Unlike Experiment 1,
non-isolated primes from the Sound Category significantly
enhanced the tone categorization latencies compared to the
non-isolated primes from the No-Sound Category,
F(1, 31) = 9.62, p < .05 (see Brunel, Labeye, et al.,
2009). To summarize, unlike in Experiment 1, when participants saw objects that were associated with sounds, sound
discrimination was always enhanced.
Priming Task
Recognition Task
As in Experiment 1, the participants performed the categorization task accurately (with an overall correct response
rate of 93%, see Table 2). The analyses of the correct
response rates revealed neither any main effects (respectively, F(1, 31) = 2.32, p = .14, for Category Type and
F < 1 for Isolation) nor any interaction, F < 1. As expected,
in the case of latencies the analysis revealed only a significant interaction between Category Type and Isolation,
F(1, 31) = 14.48, p < .05, g2p = .32, and neither the main
4
When participants were required to pick out the isolated
exemplar seen in the Sound Category condition, the correct
recognition rate was 50.0%, which was significantly above
the chance level of 25%, t(31) = 2.78, p < .05. Similarly,
when they had to identify the isolated exemplar seen in
the No-Sound Category, the correct recognition rate was
46.9% which again differed significantly from the 25%
chance response level, t(31) = 2.44, p < .05.
As in Experiment 1, we conducted a similarity rating study (16 participants) on our stimuli in order to see how people represented these
stimuli in a psychological space. In the same way as for color, the participants used both the brightness and the shape dimensions to
represent objects in multidimensional space. Most importantly, and as expected, the two extreme gray values (1 and 4) were judged to be
less similar than the two central values (2 and 3), and the distance between them was greater in the multidimensional scaling solution. These
extreme gray values therefore mean that the within-category similarities are not homogeneous.
Experimental Psychology 2012
Ó 2012 Hogrefe Publishing
Author’s personal copy (e-offprint)
L. Brunel et al.: Multisensory Generalization and Distinctiveness Effects
In the learning task, the pattern of results was similar to
that observed in Experiment 1 in that categorization was
always faster and more accurate when the shape was accompanied by a sound feature. Once again, the most interesting
results were observed in the priming task and recognition
task. Unlike in Experiment 1, the isolated prime exemplar
in the Sound Category did not enhance tone categorization
and was recognized significantly above chance level. In
the No-Sound Category, the isolated prime exemplar
enhanced tone categorization and was recognized significantly above chance level. Taken together, these results support our main hypothesis that feature saliency (extreme
values of gray) can neutralize generalization along the shape
dimension, with the result that exemplars with extreme values of gray are treated as distinct.
We therefore conducted Experiment 2b in order to
ensure that when isolated objects are displayed with the less
salient and discriminable central gray values (Gray 2 and
Gray 3), this distinctiveness effect is no longer observed
and, more specifically, that generalization is observed along
the shape dimension. In other words, we predicted that
Experiment 2b would replicate the results of Experiment 1.
9
Figure 4. Mean reaction times for tone categorization as
a function of isolation and for each prime type in
Experiment 2b. Error bars represent standard errors.
SC = Sound Category; NSC = No-Sound Category.
more accurately, F(1, 31) = 3.82, p = .06. By contrast, in
the No-Sound Category condition, the isolated object was
processed
faster
than
the
non-isolated
ones,
F(1, 31) = 18,77 p < .05, but not more accurately, F < 1.
Overall, these results were similar to those of Experiments
1 and 2a.
Experiment 2b
Method
Participants
Thirty-two right-handed voluntary participants were
recruited for Experiment 2b. All of them were students at
the University Lumière Lyon 2 (France) and had normal
or corrected-to-normal vision.
Stimulus, Material, Procedure, and Design
The stimuli, material, procedure, and design were identical
to those used in Experiment 2a. The only difference was that
Gray 2 and Gray 3 were used as the colors for the isolated
objects in each category.
Results and Discussion
Priming Task
In the same way as in the previous experiment, the participants performed the task accurately (91% overall correct
response rate, see Table 2). The analyses performed on the
correct responses revealed neither a significant main effect,
F < 1, of either Category Type or Isolation nor any interaction, F < 1. As expected, the latency analysis revealed a significant effect of Category Type, F(1, 31) = 21.55, p < .05,
g2p = .41, see Figure 4, and no significant effect of Isolation,
F < 1. The responses were significantly faster (RT =
561 ms, SE = 24) when the target tone was preceded by
an exemplar from the Sound Category rather than from
the No-Sound Category (RT = 593 ms, SE = 25).
It should be mentioned that we observed a trend for the
interaction between Category Type and Isolation,
F(1, 31) = 4.10, p = .052, g2p = .11. The trend was due to
the fact that the responses for the isolated shape seen in
the Sound Category condition were even faster than those
for the non-isolated shapes, while the opposite was true
for the shapes seen in the No-Sound Category condition.
Learning Task
The participants performed the shape categorization task
accurately (95% overall correct response rate, see Table 1).
Analyses revealed a significant main effect of Category
Type on latencies, F(1, 31) = 12.14, p < .05, g2p = .28, but
not on correct response rates, F < 1. The analyses revealed
a significant interaction between Category Type and Isolation for both latencies, F(1, 31) = 31.91, p < .05,
g2p = .50, and correct response rates, F(1, 31) = 5.22,
p < .05, g2p = .14. In the Sound Category condition, the
non-isolated objects were processed both faster than the isolated ones, F(1, 31) = 22.74, p < .05, and also marginally
Ó 2012 Hogrefe Publishing
Recognition Task
When the participants were required to pick out the isolated
exemplar from the Sound Category, the correct recognition
rate was 6.3% which was significantly below the chance
level of 25%, t(31) = 4.31, p < .05. This low accuracy
score did not reflect a bias toward the extreme gray values.
In fact, the distribution of recognition responses among participants (irrespective of whether the responses were correct
or false) was relatively homogeneous. As in Experiment 1,
the participants were biased toward non-isolated shapes as
Experimental Psychology 2012
Author’s personal copy (e-offprint)
10
L. Brunel et al.: Multisensory Generalization and Distinctiveness Effects
if they assumed that the isolated shape was systematically
presented with sound (the trend observed for the interaction
between Isolation and Category Type supports this interpretation). When they had to identify the isolated exemplar seen
in the No-Sound Category condition, the correct recognition
rate was 25.0%, that is, the same as chance response level,
t < 1.
Once again, the pattern of results obtained in the learning
task was consistent with those obtained in Experiment 1 and
Experiment 2a. Most importantly, and as expected, this
experiment replicated the results of Experiment 1 in both
the priming and recognition tasks, that is, the isolated prime
in the Sound Category enhanced tone categorization and
was not recognized above chance level (i.e., multisensory
generalization effect), whereas the isolated prime in the
No-Sound Category did not enhance tone categorization
and was also not recognized above chance level (i.e., unisensory generalization effect).
General Discussion
The aim of this research was to assess generalization within
a multisensory memory perspective. Here, we defined the
multisensory generalization effect as the probability of a
visual exemplar activating a sound feature even when it is
experienced without a sound feature. By manipulating the
learning conditions, we were able to isolate this effect. In
the learning phase, participants performed a shape categorization task in which there were unstated but strong contingencies between shapes, colors, and sounds (see also,
Schmidt & De Houwer, 2012; Schmidt et al., 2010). In
the Sound Category condition, three differently colored
but identically shaped objects (‘‘non-isolated’’) were presented with a white noise, whereas a final exemplar of the
same shape was not associated with this sound (‘‘isolated’’).
In the No-Sound Category condition, the opposite pattern
applied (i.e., an isolated shape was presented with a sound,
whereas three non-isolated shapes were not). The observed
pattern of results (which was consistent across all our experiments) showed that when the participants had to categorize
shapes as member of the No-Sound Category, adding a
sound feature to one of these shapes (the isolated shape)
facilitated its categorization. In contrast, when they had to
categorize shapes as members of the Sound Category, the
presentation of one of these shapes without a sound feature
interfered with its categorization. This result shows that the
participants paid attention to the sound feature during the
shape categorization task. It is now well known that providing a multisensory cue during perceptual processing can
help people to be more accurate (e.g., Lehmann & Murray,
2005) or can bias their performance (see the McGurk effect,
McGurk & MacDonald, 1976) even if this cue is not necessarily related to the task (e.g., Giard & Perronet, 1999).
However, the shortening of latencies is not, in itself, sufficient to conclude that integration takes place during the
learning task. That is why we shall not seek to go beyond
the reported results and simply state that the sound feature
helped our participants to perform the shape categorization
Experimental Psychology 2012
task. Could the sound feature have functioned as an alerting
stimulus? Each shape presented with a sound could have
benefited from the simultaneous sound because the sound
provided an additional, redundant cue for the onset of a trial.
However, such an explanation would only help explain the
results obtained during the learning task. In fact, it is more
likely that the other effects that we observed can be explained in terms of multisensory memory accounts rather
than by a mere perceptual fluency effect (see Brunel,
Labeye, et al., 2009; Brunel, Lesourd et al., 2010).
Based on our assumption that category exemplars are
activated due to their similarity to presented objects (see also
Logan, 2002; Nosofsky, 1986), and in line with our previous
work (see Brunel, Labeye, et al., 2009; Brunel, Lesourd
et al., 2010), we made predictions concerning the priming
and recognition phases. The first finding of our experiments
is that there is a priming effect between a shape prime and a
sound target based on the integration that occurs during the
learning phase. These data replicate the results previously
obtained by Brunel and coworkers and confirm that activation of an auditory memory component (a component that is
not perceptually present) can influence the perceptual processing of a sound that is presented later. This finding can
be explained by the fact that the preactivation of a modality
influences processing in the same modality (see Pecher
et al., 2004; Van Dantzig et al, 2008). In our study, the visual
prime automatically activated the corresponding associated
sound (white noise) and prepared the system to process
information in the same modality or information evoking
this modality (Brunel, Lesourd et al., 2010; Vallet et al.,
2010). Once again, it provides evidence in support of the
assumption that memory mechanisms are not dissociated
from perceptual mechanisms, but instead involve shared
processes (Goldstone & Barsalou, 1998; for a review, see
Versace et al., 2009). In Experiment 1, in particular, we
found that visual objects from the Sound Category enhanced
the categorization of auditory target tones more than the
prime shapes from the No-Sound Category (either Isolated
or Non-Isolated) irrespective of whether the prime shape
had (Non-Isolated) or had not (Isolated) been experienced
with sound. Even the isolated object from the No-Sound
Category, which was experienced with a sound feature,
did not facilitate tone categorization. Furthermore, isolated
exemplars were not subsequently recognized at significantly
above chance level. Taken together, these results suggest
that the participants were sensitized along the shape dimension during category learning, with the result that generalization occurred on this dimension in the priming and
recognition tasks. It seems likely that there was some sensitization to shape due to its relevance for categorization because the similarity ratings did not indicate that shape was
a priori a more salient cue than color. Following category
training, the participants generalized their responses from
the more frequent non-isolated category exemplars to the
less frequent isolated category exemplar. These results indicate three types of ‘‘spreading’’ of activation which occur
simultaneously. First, activation spreads across modalities,
that is, from a shape to the sound that has been frequently
paired with this shape. Second, response patterns spread
from the exemplars of a category to other similar exemplars
Ó 2012 Hogrefe Publishing
Author’s personal copy (e-offprint)
L. Brunel et al.: Multisensory Generalization and Distinctiveness Effects
of the same category. Third, integrated cross-modal responses spread from white noise to tones. An alternative
explanation is that isolated exemplars are similar overall to
the exemplars of their respective category across all dimensions (color and shape), and that the dimensions are equally
weighted. If this is the case, then we should observe this result irrespective of the learning task. However, there is evidence that categorization induces sensitization along a
diagnostic dimension (see Goldstone, 1994) and also that
objects that are categorized together tend to be judged more
similar by participants along this dimension (see Goldstone,
Lippa, & Shiffrin, 2001).
We observed a multisensory generalization effect, with
the response on the non-isolated exemplars in the Sound
Category being generalized to the isolated exemplar, and a
‘‘unisensory’’ generalization effect, with the response on
the non-isolated exemplars from the No-Sound Category
being generalized to the isolated exemplar. These results
are consistent with both the existence of multisensory
exemplars that integrate shape and sound in the psychological space and classical selective attention accounts of
exemplar models, such as the Generalized Context Model
(Nososfky, 1986, 1991). Employing these background theories, we provide evidence for generalization within a multisensory perspective. Despite the many studies conducted
within a multisensory memory perspective (for a review,
see Barsalou, 2008; Glenberg, 2010; Versace et al., 2009),
this is the first observation of categorization-based generalization across modalities, that is, from visual shape to sound.
Moreover, we found evidence that priming can be employed
as an implicit measure of this generalization effect. This
reinforces the idea that experimental designs that make
use of priming are useful tools for exploring the nature of
exemplar representations in memory.
Exemplar-based accounts of selective attention to category-diagnostic dimensions would have predicted a systematic generalization based on a common shape, irrespective of
the dissimilarity of the objects on the category-irrelevant
dimensions. In Experiment 2, we were able to show that
this was not the case. Furthermore, there are other results
in the literature that cannot be explained solely in terms of
summed similarity along diagnostic dimensions (Cohen
et al., 2001; Johansen et al., 2010; Nosofsky & Zaki,
2003). For example, the advantage observed for distinctive
stimuli in recognition memory (Nosofsky & Zaki, 2003) is
mediated by discrete-feature matching that allows a given
exemplar to have a better self-matching activation value
(i.e., bias in the summed activation computation toward this
exemplar). By manipulating brightness instead of color, we
were able to isolate this effect. When an isolated exemplar
was displayed with a brightness value that strongly differentiated it from the other exemplars of its category (Experiment 2a), the learning results were similar to those found
in Experiment 1. However, cross-modal generalization from
the non-isolated to the isolated exemplars was no longer observed in the subsequent priming and recognition tasks. The
extreme brightness values served to differentiate the isolated
exemplar from the others (Johansen et al., 2010), with
the result that generalization did not spread across these
exemplars (Nosofsky & Zaki, 2003). However, Experiment
Ó 2012 Hogrefe Publishing
11
2b provided evidence that distinctiveness effects are observed only if the relevant features are salient, as otherwise
generalization along the shape dimension is found for the
isolated exemplars in both categories. When isolated exemplars are assigned non-extreme values along the brightness
dimension, we replicated the cross-modal generalization results obtained in Experiment 1.
The generalization of learned cross-modal integrations
across the members of a category was observed when
objects belonging to the same category shared values on
the shape dimension (Experiment 1) and when there was
no salient feature to distinguish the objects to which
responses could be generalized (Experiment 2a vs. 2b). To
summarize, we conclude that (1) generalization can occur
both within a modality and across modalities; (2) retrieval
from memory depends on an activation mechanism based
on selective attention to the dimension or to a feature during
a global matching process (see also Nairne, 2006).
Finally, and as suggested by the present research, the distinctiveness effects that we observed in earlier studies have
been found to occur not only at a featural level but also at an
exemplar level (Brunel, Oker, Riou, & Versace, 2010). One
remaining issue relates to whether multiple levels of representation (i.e., feature and exemplar, see Navarro & Lee,
2002), or multiple levels of processing (i.e., dimensional
and featural), or both, are involved during retrieval. This
is an interesting issue that should be addressed in future
research.
Acknowledgments
Preliminary results of Experiment 2 were presented at the
31st Annual Congress of the Cognitive Science Society
(Brunel, Vallet, Riou, & Versace, 2009). However, the
present article contains original analyses and results that
have not been published. This research was supported by
FYSSEN Foundation (94, rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris,
France). We would like to thank Diana Pecher, Jason Arndt,
Thorsten Meiser, James R. Schmidt, and two anonymous
reviewers for their helpful comments on previous versions
of this article.
References
Ashby, F. G., & Towsend, J. T. (1986). Varieties of perceptual
independence. Psychological Review, 93, 154–179.
Barsalou, L. W. (2008). Grounded cognition. Annual Review of
Psychology, 59, 617–645. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.59.
103006.093639
Beisteiner, R., Höllinger, P., Lindinger, G., Lang, W., & Berthoz,
A. (1995). Mental representations of movements. Brain
potentials associated with imagination of hand movements.
Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 96,
183–193.
Bensafi, M., Sobel, N., & Khan, R. M. (2007). Hedonic-specific
activity in the piriform cortex during odor imagery mimics
that during odor perception. Journal of Neurophysiology, 98,
3254–3262. doi: 10.1152/jn.00349.2007
Brunel, L., Labeye, E., Lesourd, M., & Versace, R. (2009).
The sensory nature of episodic memory: Sensory priming
due to memory trace activation. Journal of Experimental
Experimental Psychology 2012
Author’s personal copy (e-offprint)
12
L. Brunel et al.: Multisensory Generalization and Distinctiveness Effects
Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 35, 1081–
1088. doi: 10.1037/a0015537
Brunel, L., Lesourd, M., Labeye, E., & Versace, R. (2010). The
sensory nature of knowledge: Sensory priming effect in
semantic categorization. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63, 955–964. doi: 10.1080/
17470210903134369
Brunel, L., Oker, A., Riou, B., & Versace, R. (2010). Memory
and consciousness: Trace distinctiveness in memory retrievals. Consciousness & Cognition, 19, 926–937. doi:
10.1016/j.concog.2010.08.006
Brunel, L., Vallet, G., Riou, B., & Versace, R. (2009). The
sensory nature of knowledge generalization vs. specification
mechanisms. In N. A. Taatgen & H. van Rijn (Eds.),
Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive
Science Society (pp. 2789–2794). Austin, TX: Cognitive
Science Society.
Chen, Y.-C., & Spence, C. (2010). When hearing the bark helps
to identify the dog: Semantically-congruent sounds modulate
the identification of masked pictures. Cognition, 114, 389–
404. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2009.10.012
Cohen, A., Nosofsky, R., & Zaki, S. (2001). Category variability,
exemplar similarity, and perceptual classification. Memory &
Cognition, 29, 1165–1175.
Connell, L., & Lynott, D. (2010). Look but don’t touch: Tactile
disadvantage in processing of modality-specific words.
Cognition, 115, 1–9. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2009.10.005
Cooke, T., Jäkel, F., Wallraven, C., & Bülthoff, H. H. (2007).
Multisensory similarity and categorization of novel, threedimensional objects. Neuropsychologia, 45, 484–495. doi:
10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.02.009
Delvenne, J.-F., Cleeremans, A., & Laloyaux, C. (2009). Feature
bindings are maintained in visual short-term memory without
sustained focused attention. Experimental Psychology, 57,
108–116. doi: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000014
Giard, M. H., & Peronnet, F. (1999). Auditory-visual integration
during multisensory object recognition in humans: A behavior and electrophysiological study. Journal of Cognitive
Neuroscience, 11, 473–490.
Glenberg, A. M. (2010). Embodiment as a unifying perspective
for psychology. Wiley Interdisciplinary Review: Cognitive
Science, 1, 586–596. doi: 10.1002/wcs.55
Goldstone, R. L. (1994). Influences of categorization on perceptual discrimination. Journal of Experimental Psychology:
General, 123, 178–200.
Goldstone, R. L. (2000). Unitization during category learning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and
Performance, 26, 86–112.
Goldstone, R. L., & Barsalou, L. W. (1998). Reuniting perception and conception. Cognition, 65, 231–262.
Goldstone, R. L., Gerganov, A., Landy, D., & Roberts, M. E.
(2008). Learning to see and conceive. In L. Tommasi,
M. Peterson, & L. Nadel (Eds.), The new cognitive sciences
(pp. 163–188). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Goldstone, R. L., Lippa, Y., & Shiffrin, R. M. (2001). Altering
object representations through category learning. Cognition,
78, 27–43.
Hall, G. (1991). Perceptual and associative learning. New York,
NY: Clarendon Press/Oxford University Press.
Hintzman, D. L. (1986). ‘‘Schema abstraction’’ in a multipletrace model. Psychological Review, 95, 528–551.
Hommel, B. (1998). Event files: Evidence for automatic
integration of stimulus-response episodes. Visual Cognition,
5, 183–216.
Johansen, M. K., Fouquet, N., & Shanks, D. R. (2010). Featural
selective attention, exemplar representation, and the inverse
base-rate effect. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17, 637–
643. doi: 10.3758/PBR.17.5.637
Experimental Psychology 2012
Labeye, E., Oker, A., Badard, G., & Versace, R. (2008).
Activation and integration of motor components in a shortterm priming paradigm. Acta Psychologica, 129, 108–111.
doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2008.04.010
Lehmann, S., & Murray, M. (2005). The role of multisensory
memories in unisensory object discrimination. Cognitive
Brain Research, 24, 326–334. doi: 10.1016/j.cogbrainres.
2005.02.005
Logan, G. (2002). An instance theory of attention and memory.
Psychological Review, 109, 376–400.
Martin, A., Haxby, J. V., Lalonde, F. M., Wiggs, C. L., &
Ungerleider, L. G. (1995). Discrete cortical regions associated with knowledge of color and knowledge of action.
Science, 270, 102–105.
McGurk, H., & Mac Donald, J. W. (1976). Hearing lips and
seeing voices. Nature, 264, 746–748.
Meyer, M., Baumann, S., Marchina, S., & Jancke, L. (2007).
Hemodynamic responses in human multisensory and auditory association cortex to purely visual stimulation. BMC
Neuroscience, 8, 14. doi: 10.1186/1471-2202-8-14
Nairne, J. (2006). Modeling distinctiveness: Implications for
general memory theory. In R. R Hunt & J. B Worthen (Eds.),
Distinctiveness and memory (pp. 27–46). Oxford, NY:
Oxford University Press.
Navarro, D. J., & Lee, M. D. (2002). Combining dimensions
and features in similarity-based representations. In S. Becker,
S. Thrun, & K. Obermayer (Eds.), Advances in neural
information processing systems 15: Proceedings of the 2002
conference (pp. 67–74). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Nosofsky, R. (1986). Attention, similarity, and the identificationcategorization relationship. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 115, 39–57.
Nosofsky, R. (1991). Tests of an exemplar model for relating
perceptual classification and recognition memory. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 17, 3–27.
Nosofsky, R. (1992). Similarity scaling and cognitive process
models. Annual Review of Psychology, 43, 25–53.
Nosofsky, R., & Zaki, S. (2003). A hybrid-similarity exemplar
model for predicting distinctiveness effects in perceptual oldnew recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology:
Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29, 1194–1209.
Pecher, D., Zeelenberg, R., & Barsalou, L. W. (2004). Sensorimotor simulations underlie conceptual representations:
Modality-specific effects of prior activation. Psychonomic
Bulletin & Review, 11, 164–167.
Richter, T., & Zwaan, R. (2010). Integration of perceptual
information in word access. The Quarterly Journal of
Experimental Psychology, 63, 81–107. doi: 10.1080/
17470210902829563
Riou, B., Lesourd, M., Brunel, L., & Versace, R. (2011). Visual
memory and visual perception: When memory improves
visual search. Memory & Cognition, 39, 1094–1102. doi:
10.3758/s13421-011-0075-2
Rosch, E., & Mervis, C. B. (1975). Family resemblances: Studies
in the internal structure of the categories. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 573–605.
Schmidt, J. R., & De Houwer, J. (2012). Contingency learning
with evaluative stimuli. Experimental Psychology, 59, 175–
182. doi: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000141
Schmidt, J. R., De Houwer, J., & Besner, D. (2010). Contingency learning and unlearning in the blink of an eye: A
resource dependent process. Consciousness & Cognition, 19,
235–250. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2009.12.016
Schneider, T., Engel, A., & Debener, S. (2008). Multisensory
identification of natural objects in a two-way crossmodal
priming paradigm. Experimental Psychology, 55, 121–132.
doi: 10.1027/1618-3169.55.2.121
Ó 2012 Hogrefe Publishing
Author’s personal copy (e-offprint)
L. Brunel et al.: Multisensory Generalization and Distinctiveness Effects
Shepard, R. (1987). Toward a universal law of generalization for
psychological science. Science, 237, 1317.
Topolinski, S. (2012). The sensorimotor contribution to implicit
memory, familiarity, and recollection. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141, 260–281. doi: 10.1037/
a0025658
Tversky, A. (1977). Features of similarity. Psychological Review,
84, 327–352.
Vallet, G., Brunel, L., & Versace, R. (2010). The perceptual
nature of the cross-modal priming effect: Arguments in favor
of a sensory-based conception of memory. Experimental
Psychology, 57, 376–382. doi: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000045
Van Dantzig, S., Pecher, D., Zeelenberg, R., & Barsalou,
L. W. (2008). Perceptual processing affects conceptual
processing. Cognitive Science, 32, 579–590. doi: 10.1080/
03640210802035365
Versace, R., Labeye, E., Badard, G., & Rose, M. (2009). The
contents of long-term memory and the emergence of
knowledge. The European Journal of Cognitive Psychology,
21, 522–560. doi: 10.1080/09541440801951844
Ó 2012 Hogrefe Publishing
13
Wheeler, M., Peterson, S., & Buckner, R. (2000). Memory’s
echo: Vivid remembering reactivates sensory-specific cortex.
PNAS, 97, 11125–11129.
Received October 15, 2011
Revision received July 13, 2012
Accepted July 17, 2012
Published online October 10, 2012
Lionel Brunel
Laboratoire Epsylon
Université Paul Valery (campus Saint Charles)
Route de Mende
34199 Montpellier
France
E-mail
[email protected]
Experimental Psychology 2012