ABSTRACT
Over the last fifteen years or so, there have been a number of interrelated claims about the conditions under which holistic processing is likely to occur. Even a brief list of some of the generalizations that have been proposed makes clear that they have spanned a number of different kinds of effects. In comparison with analytic processing, holistic processing has been said to occur relatively more often when:
The stimuli that are being processed are composed of integral dimensions;
The individuals doing the processing are young or intellectually retarded or characterized by an impulsive cognitive style;
The conditions under which processing is occurring undermine resource-intensive modes of cognition or conscious problem-solving strategies.
