Research

Visual perceptual learning occurs throughout the lifespan and takes on many forms. Category learning occurs when humans learn to categorize faces and objects. This learning starts very early in development and continues throughout life. In infancy we begin to learn about the structure of the surrounding world, forming categories and representations of different object classes. After these categories are formed we continue to elaborate and assimilate new information about different classes of objects into our existing representations.

One major avenue of my research involves examining how differences in experience with specific classes of objects (e.g., birds, cars, faces) influence the speed and level at which these objects are categorized. A second major avenue of research is aimed at testing a recent model of how the ability to recognize faces develops. This model posits that infants mold their face processing system based on exposure to the specific kinds of faces they encounter. Such exposure, in turn, leads to cortical specialization, and eventually, a narrowing of the perceptual space through which faces are perceived. With development, then, comes an improved ability to recognize the most commonly experienced faces and a loss of the ability to recognize less commonly experienced faces.

The overarching goal of my research is to further our understanding of how perceptual categorization and learning develops and changes over time, as well as how such seemingly complicated computations are implemented in the brain. To accomplish this goal my research uses both behavioral and electrophysiological (event-related potentials; ERPs) methods to examine the underlying mechanisms involved in these processes.