Final answer:
Mentally grouping items by features like color and shape is an example of visual categorization, which helps us organize sensory information into concepts stored in our mind's 'file cabinet'.
Step-by-step explanation:
Mentally grouping items by color, texture, size, or shape is an example of visual categorization. This cognitive process allows us to organize the staggering amount of visual information we encounter by developing concepts, which are categories or groupings of linguistic information, images, ideas, or memories, such as life experiences. Through the principle of similarity, we group similar things, such as football players wearing the same uniform colors. Additionally, our prototype for a concept, like a dog, is typically our best representation or example of that concept, formed by our earliest experiences or most common encounters with the category.
Visual categorization is part of cognitive learning, and it's enhanced by our senses and past experiences. Understanding this process helps us recognize the relationships among different elements of our experiences, keeping the information organized and accessible within our minds, similar to a file cabinet with different files stored as categories.