Holographic goodness is not that bad: Reply to Olivers, Chater and Watson (2004)

In van der Helm and Leeuwenberg (1991, 1996, 1999; henceforth vdHL91, vdHL96, and vdHL99, respectively), we developed the holographic approach (HA) to goodness. Goodness refers to the detectability of single regularities and combinations of nested regularities, whether or not perturbed by noise. Olivers, Chater, and Watson (2004; henceforth OCW) argued that HA is inadequate on both theoretical and empirical grounds. In this reply to OCW, however, we not only show that HA is much more adequate than they suggested but also rebut their underlying complaint that HA is an ideal-observer theory that does not take implementational peculiarities of the human system into account. We first sketch the basics of HA’s goodness model to give a framework for addressing the latter issue. We then give an overview of HA’s theoretical and modeling ingredients to set the stage for our evaluation of OCW’s theoretical and empirical arguments.

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