Seminal findings by Dan Ariely in 2001 on how sets of objects are perceived were the first data to support theories of ensemble coding. Ariely hypothesizedused thatnovel thereexperimental areparadigms likelyhe morelabeled efficient"mean waysdiscrimination" ofand dealing"member withidentification" ato limitedexamine capacityhow atsets play.of Arielyobjects used a novelare experimental paradigm he labeled "mean discrimination"perceived. He conducted three studies involving shapesshape ensembles that varyvaried in size. Across all studies participants were able to accurately encode the mean size and range of the shapeensemble, but they were inaccurate when asked if a certain circle was apart of the set. Ariely's findings were the first that found statistical summary information emerge in the visual perception of grouped objects. <ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ariely|first=Dan|date=2001|title=Seeing Sets: Representation by Statistical Properties|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/40063604|journal=Psychological Science|volume=12|issue=2|pages=157–162|issn=0956-7976}}</ref>
"the visual system represents the overall statistical, and not individual, properties of sets" <ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ariely|first=Dan|date=2001|title=Seeing Sets: Representation by Statistical Properties|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/40063604|journal=Psychological Science|volume=12|issue=2|pages=157–162|issn=0956-7976}}</ref>
