Citation

Nosofsky RM, Clark SE, Shin HJ. J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn. 1989; 15(2): 282-304.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Indiana University, Bloomington 47405.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, American Psychological Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2522517

Abstract

Subjects learned to classify perceptual stimuli varying along continuous, separable dimensions into rule-described categories. The categories were designed to contrast the predictions of a selective-attention exemplar model and a simple rule-based model formalizing an economy-of-description view. Converging evidence about categorization strategies was obtained by also collecting identification and recognition data and by manipulating strategies via instructions. In free-strategy conditions, the exemplar model generally provided an accurate quantitative account of identification, categorization, and recognition performance, and it allowed for the interrelationship of these paradigms within a unified framework. Analyses of individual subject data also provided some evidence for the use of rules, but in general, the rules seemed to have a great deal in common with exemplar storage processes. Classification and recognition performance for subjects given explicit instructions to use specific rules contrasted dramatically with performance in the free-strategy conditions and could not be predicted by the exemplar model.

Language: en