Snake or Stick? (IMAGE)

Brown University

Snake or Stick?

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Categorization improves visual learning transfer, a new Brown University study finds. "Snakes have some specific features: the elongated body plan, the texture of scales, even stripes of specific colors," said Takeo Watanabe, a professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences at Brown University. "The sensitivity of these features could be learned and since the creature is categorized as a snake, perhaps some of this learning will transfer to another type of snake even if the stripes or some other feature are not exactly the same, which in many cases would be good for our survival."

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Courtesy Brown University

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