Are Visual Perceptual Biases Hard-Wired?

This chapter proposes a new hard-wired model of perceptual judgments as part of a typology of information processing models that span the continuum of controlled to automatic processes. The model proposes that increased attention to a biasing visual stimulus exacerbates rather than attenuates a bias when the additional attention is directed toward the biasing perceptual input rather than toward alternate de-biasing information. After describing the model, visual perceptual biases as they pertain to model predictions are discussed, and are followed by suggestions for testable hypotheses to test remaining model predictions. Data showing visual perceptual biases that appear to be hard-wired are presented at the end. Including such a visual information processing model adds to the current set of information processing models that have been developed in the domain of semantic information processing.