Assimilation in visibility: additional evidence

Grouping and Assimilation in Perception, Memory, and Conditioning

A group-assimilation theory hypothesizes that a Gestalt-like group is associated with assimilation among the parts of the group. Assimilation is an increase in the perceived or sensed similarity of 1 part to a 2nd part. Assimilation occurs for traditional parts such as color but also occurs for salience. The theory accounts for key outcomes in perception, memory, and conditioning. An important hypothesis is that traditional assimilation and salience assimilation tend to have opposing effects on identification. The traditional assimilation of a target to a 2nd part frequently impairs the target's identification. In contrast, the assimilation of a less salient target to a more salient 2nd part increases the salience of the target and thus improves the target's identification. The corresponding hypothesis that 2 groups are associated with contrast between those parts that belong to different groups is also considered.

Sentences and rehearsals increase rated similarity: support for assimilation-in-salience theory

The present study concerns how organization produces good retention. Exp. 1 indicated that college students rated two words in sentences as more similar than the same two words alone. In Exp. 2 they rated the two words of old presumably rehearsed pairs as more similar than the two words of new pairs. A sentence is a type of organization, and words that are rehearsed together are frequently subjectively organized. Therefore, the two experiments suggest that organized stimuli also assimilate among themselves (and evidence in the literature concurs). Organized stimuli also produce a highly salient (activated) single memorial group (unit) such as the meaning that a simple sentence comes to have according to evidence in the literature. So, the two experiments support the hypothesis that organized stimuli produce good retention, assimilation among themselves, and a highly salient group. Consequently, organized stimuli may also assimilate to the highly salient group and thereby increase in salience, with this increase enabling the good retention. This assimilation-in-salience theory of how organization produces good retention accords with perceptual evidence suggesting that a target increases in salience through its assimilation to a more salient simultaneously present context.