Generalization Theory

[Leviathan]

I am interested in information regarding the tendency to generalize and associate given characteristics with each other if they are frequently presented together, i.e. a person shown three green squares and one red square alongside three red triangles and one green triangles will come to associate squareness with green and redness with triangles even when those stimuli are independent of one another. Since I am a non-expert, the closest parallel that I can think of is classical conditioning and associative learning in animals, that is based on reflexive responses to a stimulus that has come to be associated with a meaningful factor.

[voodoo scientist]

Haha, I thought this would be about conditioning when I read the title. It's a decent parallel, but doesn't explain why humans can draw the associations you listed without the use of a UCS. Have you read any gestalt psychology? To tell you the truth, it's probably not as predictive as you're hoping for, but how our perception is generated is something you need to get down on a more biological level to really deal with in a detailed manner. Gestalt will at least tell you what, if not how.