Date of Award
Fall 2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Scholl, Brian
Abstract
The raw material of perception is a continuous wash of light and sound. But what we perceive are often discrete individuals — objects (due to segmentation in space) and events (due to segmentation in time). Here I present five case studies that collectively explore how discrete object and event representations have a powerful impact on many forms of perception and cognition — and in particular, how they interact with other processes including attention, imagery, enumeration, time perception, and decision-making. Throughout this work, I show how these interactions are relatively spontaneous and inescapable aspects of how the mind works. In the first two case studies, I introduce the phenomenon of “scaffolded attention”, and show how attention (but perhaps not imagery) effectively creates discrete object representations even in the absence of all sensory cues — in a sort of “everyday hallucination”. In the next two case studies, I show how dynamic event segmentation has important consequences for the perception of other seemingly foundational properties, including number and time. And in the final case study, I move from seeing to thinking, and show how manipulations of event structure can eliminate one of the most notorious (and stubbornly persistent) biases in decision-making. Together, these studies show how discrete object and event representations have profound consequences for our mental lives.
Recommended Citation
Ongchoco, Joan Danielle Khonghun, "The Continuous vs. the Discrete in Mental Life: Studies in Perception, Attention, and Decision-making" (2022). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 790.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/790
