Spatial-frequency thresholds for object categorisation at basic and subordinate levels

In an attempt to understand how low-level visual information contributes to object categorisation, previous studies have examined the effects of spatially filtering images on object recognition at different levels of abstraction. Here, the quantitative thresholds for object categorisation at the basic and subordinate levels are determined by using a combination of the method of adjustment and a match-to-sample method. Participants were asked to adjust the cut-off of either a low-pass or high-pass filter applied to a target image until they reached the threshold at which they could match the target image to one of six simultaneously presented category names. This allowed more quantitative analysis of the spatial frequencies necessary for recognition than previous studies. Results indicate that a more central range of low spatial frequencies is necessary for subordinate categorisation than basic, though the difference is small, at about 0.25 octaves. Conversely, there was no effect of categorisation level on high-pass thresholds.