The influence of stimulus properties on category construction.

Fraser Milton; A. J. Wills

doi:10.1037/0278-7393.30.2.407

The influence of stimulus properties on category construction.

Fraser Milton^*, A. J. Wills

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Psychology

University of Exeter

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

It has been demonstrated that when people free classify stimuli presented simultaneously in an array, they have a preference to categorize by a single dimension. However, when people are encouraged to categorize items sequentially, they sort by "family resemblance," grouping by overall similarity. The present studies extended this research, producing 3 main findings. First, the sequential procedure introduced by G. Regehr and L. R. Brooks (1995) does not always produce a preference for family resemblance sorts. Second, sort strategy in a sequential procedure is sensitive to subtle variations in stimulus properties. Third, spatially separable stimuli evoked more family resemblance sons than stimuli of greater spatial integration. It is suggested that the family resemblance sorting observed is due to an analytic strategy.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	407-415
Number of pages	0
Journal	J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn
Volume	30
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.30.2.407
Publication status	Published - Mar 2004

Keywords

Association Learning
Concept Formation
Decision Theory
Discrimination Learning
Humans
Pattern Recognition
Visual
Probability Learning
Problem Solving
Psychophysics
Set
Psychology
Size Perception

Access to Document

10.1037/0278-7393.30.2.407

Cite this

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title = "The influence of stimulus properties on category construction.",

abstract = "It has been demonstrated that when people free classify stimuli presented simultaneously in an array, they have a preference to categorize by a single dimension. However, when people are encouraged to categorize items sequentially, they sort by {"}family resemblance,{"} grouping by overall similarity. The present studies extended this research, producing 3 main findings. First, the sequential procedure introduced by G. Regehr and L. R. Brooks (1995) does not always produce a preference for family resemblance sorts. Second, sort strategy in a sequential procedure is sensitive to subtle variations in stimulus properties. Third, spatially separable stimuli evoked more family resemblance sons than stimuli of greater spatial integration. It is suggested that the family resemblance sorting observed is due to an analytic strategy.",

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KW - Concept Formation

KW - Decision Theory

KW - Discrimination Learning

KW - Humans

KW - Pattern Recognition

KW - Visual

KW - Probability Learning

KW - Problem Solving

KW - Psychophysics

KW - Set

KW - Psychology

KW - Size Perception

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