Statistical Learning in Visual Perception

Extracting statistical regularities from the environment is one of the most fundamental abilities of any living organism. This type of learning is largely unconscious, unintentional, and implicit; it runs "in the background", both seeking and giving structure to the world around us; making it coherent, predictable and quickly manageable. Even though a lot is known about how statistical learning affects language acquisition, object recognition, motor learning, and decision making, only recently it became apparent that it plays a key role in attentional selection. Visual perception must be selective, as we are confronted with the massive amount of available sensory input. Statistical learning occurring often beneath the level of awareness provides structure to the environment uncovering the relations between objects in space and time.