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Abstract:
Previous behavioral studies (Tanaka & Taylor, 1991) have
shown that real-world experts identify objects in their domain of
expertise more quickly than objects outside their domain of
expertise. In the present study, the neural substrate of object
expertise was examined using event-related potentials. Bird and dog
experts identified common birds and dogs at the superordinate
(e.g., animal), basic (e.g., bird), and subordinate (e.g., robin)
levels of abstraction while brain wave activity was monitored with
a 128 channel, high density electrode net. The main result of this
study was that an enhanced negative deflection occurred
approximately 164 milliseconds post-stimulus onset when experts
identified objects in their expert domain relative to when they
identified objects outside of their domain of expertise. The
enhanced negative deflection associated with expertise may reflect
a specialized, automatic "object routine" that facilitates
recognition of domain-specific objects.
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