Abstract
Many formal models of categorization assume, implicitly or explicitly, that categorization results in the formation of direct associations from representations of the presented stimuli to representations of the experimentally provided category labels. In three categorization experiments employing a polymorphous classification structure (Dennis, Hampton, & Lea, 1973) and a partial reversal,optional shift procedure (Kendler, Kendler, & Wells, 1960), we provide evidence consistent with the hypothesis that learning a new classification problem results in the creation of category representations that mediate between representations of the stimulus and the label. This hypothesis can be instantiated through the AMBRY model (Kruschke, 1996).
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Ashby, F. G., &Gott, R. E. (1988). Decision rules in the perception and categorization of multidimensional stimuli.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,14, 33–53.
Buss, A. H. (1953). Rigidity as a function of reversal and non-reversal shifts in the learning of successive discriminations.Journal of Experimental Psychology,45, 75–81.
Delamater, A. R., &Joseph, P. (2000). Common coding in symbolic matching tasks with humans: Training with a common consequence or antecedent.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,53B, 255–273.
Dennis, I., Hampton, J. A., &Lea, S. E. G. (1973). New problem in concept formation.Nature,243, 101–102.
Gazzaniga, M. S., Ivry, R. B., &Mangun, G. R. (1998).Cognitive neuroscience: The biology of the mind. London: Norton.
Gluck, M. A. (1991). Stimulus generalization and representation in adaptive network models of category learning.Psychological Science,2, 50–55.
Gluck, M. A., &Bower, G. H. (1988). From conditioning to category learning: An adaptive network model.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,117, 227–247.
Goldstone, R. L., &Steyvers, M. (2001). The sensitization and differentiation of dimensions during category learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,130, 116–139.
Hall, G. (1996). Learning about associatively activated stimulus representations: Implications for acquired equivalence and perceptual learning.Animal Learning & Behavior,24, 233–255.
Hall, G., Mitchell, C., Graham, S., &Lavis, Y. (2003). Acquired equivalence and distinctiveness in human discrimination learning: Evidence for associative mediation.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,132, 266–276.
Hull, C. L. (1930). Knowledge and purpose as habit mechanisms.Psychological Review,37, 511–525.
Johansen, M. K., &Palmeri, T. J. (2002). Are there representational shifts during category learning?Cognitive Psychology,45, 482–553.
Kendler, H. H., &Kendler, T. S. (1968). Mediation and conceptual behavior. In K. W. Spence & J. T. Spence (Eds.),The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 2, pp. 197–244). New York: Academic Press.
Kendler, H. H., Kendler, T. S., &Ward, J. W. (1972). An ontogenetic analysis of optional intradimensional and extradimensional shifts.Journal of Experimental Psychology,95, 102–109.
Kendler, H. H., Kendler, T. S., &Wells, D. (1960). Reversal and nonreversal shifts in nursery school children.Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology,53, 83–87.
Kruschke, J. K. (1992). ALCOVE: An exemplar-based connectionist model of category learning.Psychological Review,99, 22–44.
Kruschke, J. K. (1996). Dimensional relevance shifts in category learning.Connection Science,8, 225–247.
Luce, R. D. (1959).Individual choice behavior. New York: Wiley.
Markman, A. B., &Ross, B. H. (2003). Category use and category learning.Psychological Bulletin,129, 592–613.
McLaren, I. P. L., &Mackintosh, N. J. (2000). An elemental model of associative learning: I. Latent inhibition and perceptual learning.Animal Learning & Behavior,28, 211–246.
Medin, D. L., &Schaffer, M. M. (1978). Context theory of classification learning.Psychological Review,85, 207–238.
Murdock, B. B., Jr. (1956). “Backward” learning in paired associates.Journal of Experimental Psychology,51, 213–215.
Norcross, K. J., &Spiker, C. C. (1958). Effects of mediated associations on transfer in paired-associate learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology,55, 129–134.
Nosofsky, R. M. (1986). Attention, similarity, and the identificationcategorization relationship.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,115, 39–61.
Nosofsky, R. M., &Palmeri, T. J. (1997). An exemplar-based random walk model of speeded classification.Psychological Review,104, 266–300.
Rescorla, R. A., &Durlach, P. J. (1981). Within-event learning in Pavlovian conditioning. In N. E. Spear & R. R. Miller (Eds.),Information processing in animals: Memory mechanisms (pp. 81–111). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Rosch, E., &Mervis, C. B. (1975). Family resemblances: Studies in the internal structure of categories.Cognitive Psychology,7, 573–605.
Rumelhart, D. E., Hinton, G. E., &Williams, R. J. (1986). Learning internal representations by error propagation. In D. E. Rumelhart & J. L. McClelland (Eds.),Parallel distributed processing: Explorations in the microstructure of cognition (Vol. 1, pp. 318–362). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Sanders, B. (1971). Factors affecting reversal and nonreversal shifts in rats and children.Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology,74, 192–202.
Schyns, P. G., &Rodet, L. (1997). Categorization creates functional features.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,23, 681–696.
Sidman, M., &Tailby, W. (1982). Conditional discrimination vs. matching to sample: An expansion of the testing paradigm.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,37, 5–22.
Sutherland, N. S., &Mackintosh, N. J. (1971).Mechanisms of animal discrimination learning. New York: Academic Press.
Urcuioli, P. J., Zentall, T. R., Jackson-Smith, P., &Steirn, J. N. (1989). Evidence for common coding in many-to-one matching: Retention, intertrial interference, and transfer.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,15, 264–273.
Von Fersen, L., &Lea, S. E. G. (1990). Category discrimination by pigeons using five polymorphous features.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,54, 69–84.
Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist sees it.Psychological Review,20, 158–177.
Wills, A. J., &McLaren, I. P. L. (1998). Perceptual learning and free classification.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,51B, 235–270.
Wills, A. J., Reimers, S., Stewart, N., Suret, M., &McLaren, I. P. L. (2000). Tests of the ratio rule in categorization.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,53A, 983–1011.
Wirth, O., &Chase, P. N. (2002). Stability of functional equivalence and stimulus equivalence: Effects of baseline reversals.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,77, 29–47.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by U.K. BBSRC Grant 9/S17109 and by European Commission Framework 6 Grant 516542 (NEST) to the first author.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wills, A.J., Noury, M., Moberly, N.J. et al. Formation of category representations. Memory & Cognition 34, 17–27 (2006). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193383
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193383