Our visual system is able to separate spatially intermixed objects into different categorical groups (e.g., berries and leaves) using the shape of feature distribution: Determining whether all objects belong to one or several categories depends on whether the distribution has one or several peaks. Despite the apparent ease of rapid categorization, it is a very computationally demanding task, given severely limited “bottlenecks” of attention and working memory capable of processing only a few objects at a time. Here, we tested whether this rapid categorical parsing is automatic or requires attention. We used the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) ERP component known as a marker of automatic sensory discrimination. 20 volunteers (16 female, mean age—22.7) participated in our study. Loading participants’ attention with a central task, we observed a substantial vMMN response to unattended background changes of categories defined by certain length-orientation conjunctions. Importantly, this occurred in conditions where the distributions of these features had several peaks and, hence, supported categorical separation. These results suggest that spatially intermixed objects are parsed into distinct categories automatically and give new insight into how the visual system can bypass the severe processing restrictions and form rich perceptual experience.

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Our visual system is able to separate spatially intermixed objects into different categorical groups (e.g., berries and leaves) using the shape of feature distribution: whether all objects belong to one or several categories depends on whether the distribution has one or several peaks. Here, we tested whether this rapid categorical parsing is automatic or requires attention. We used the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) ERP component known as a marker of automatic sensory discrimination. 20 volunteers (16 female, mean age -22.7) participated in our study. Loading participants' attention with a central task, we observed a substantial vMMN response to unattended background changes of categories defined by certain length-orientation conjunctions. Importantly, this occurred only in conditions where the distributions of these features had several peaks and, hence, supported categorical separation. These results suggest that spatially intermixed objects are parsed into distinct categories automatically.