Hochberg A Perceptual Psychologist

Abstract Hochberg is often regarded as belonging to the cognitive end of perceptual theory. Several authors in the current volume highlight his opposition to Gibson, who denies a role for cognitive processes in perception, regarding it as a direct response to the optic array. Elsewhere, Hochberg is considered to be similar to Gregory and Rock in his emphasis on cognitive entities, which in Hochberg’s case are ‘‘schema’’ and ‘‘expectancy.’’ Hochberg (1974a) did indeed point to the limitations of Gibson’s approach and emphasized those aspects of perception that Gibson left unexplored, such as the selection and sequencing of what to look at. This selection, according to Hochberg, is based on expectancies that are guided by schema and interrogated by eye movements to selected aspects of the scene. The issue of the selection and sequencing of views becomes especially important in considering film, where the sequence is imposed rather than selected and for which the filmmaker must control both schema and visual input. Hochberg has brilliantly explored the principles underlying the successful sequencing of views in film, which clearly often depend for success on cognitive structures set up by previous views. But is his general position a cognitive one, in the sense that he considers that what is perceived is a construction or representation rather than a response to the stimulus? I shall argue that Hochberg is strongly in the perceptual tradition in his interest in the stimulus control of perception and that the cognitive aspects of his theory complement this stimulus-bound process rather than substitute for it. I’ll analyze this issue in connection with the following Hochbergian ideas: (1) the concept of schema and its role in perception; (2) the concept of local depth cues; (3) the emphasis on acquiring information for action via planned eye movements rather than from a representation; (4) the preference for strategies rather than entities in explaining perceptual selection; and (5) a strong empirical approach leading to the rejection of overriding principles for perception.