Abstract
Holistic processing was initially characterized a unique hallmark of face perception (e.g.,
Young et al., 1987
) and later argued a domain-general marker of perceptual expertise (e.g.,
Gauthier et al., 1998
). More recently, evidence for holistic processing - measured by interference from task-irrelevant parts - was obtained in novices, raising questions for its usefulness as a test of expertise. Indeed, recent studies use the same task to make opposite claims:
Hsiao & Cottrell (2009)
found more interference in novices than experts for Chinese characters, while
Wong, Palmeri & Gauthier (2009)
found more interference in experts than novices with objects. Offering a resolution to this paradox, our work on the perception of musical notation (
Wong & Gauthier, in press
) suggests that expert and novice interference effects represent two ends of a continuum: interference is initially strategic and contextual, but becomes more automatic as holistic processing develops with the acquisition of perceptual expertise.