WHAT IS IMPORTANT ABOUT MCCOLLOUGH EFFECTS - REPLY

Criticism of the authors' functional theory of the McCollough effect ( ME) is answered. The critics claim that MEs can be explained as classi cal conditioning effects. It is not disputed that the association-form ing process in MEs shares much in common with classical conditioning, but there are still problems, practical and theoretical, with this acc ount. It also misdirects attention from more important matters. The ro le of MEs in assuring a proper fit between representation and environm ent is reasserted, which seems to be the strongest reason for studying these effects. The functional theory aims to model the processes of e rror correction by means of which valid representation of the environm ent is maintained. It therefore belongs in a different tradition from that proclaimed by its critics.