Similarity and features of natural textures.

In 3 experiments the type of model that is best for conceptualizing the attentive similarity of natural textures was investigated. Different groups of participants placed pictures into groups however they wished, described the resulting clusters and multidimensional scaling dimensions, identified the objects or surfaces depicted in the pictures, and ranked the pictures along several hypothesized attribute-based dimensions. Results indicate that similarity is context dependent, that natural textures seem to be organized according to family resemblances, and that a dimensional model is inappropriate. These outcomes suggest that models of preattentive segregation and attentive cognition may be incommensurable.