Abstract
Experiments were conducted in which observers learned to classify simple perceptual stimuli into low-variability and high-variability categories. Similarities between objects were measured in independent psychological-scaling tasks. The results showed that observers classified transfer stimuli into the high-variability categories with greater probability than was predicted by a baseline version of an exemplar-similarity model. Qualitative evidence for the role of category variability on perceptual classification, which could not be explained in terms of the baseline exemplar-similarity model, was obtained as well. Possible accounts of the effects of category variability are considered in the General Discussion section.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Ashby, F. G., Alfonso Reese, L. A., Turken, A. U., &Waldron, E. M. (1998). A neuropsychological theory of multiple systems in category learning.Psychological Review,105, 442–481.
Ashby, F. G., &Lee, W. W. (1991). Predicting similarity and categorization from identification.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,120, 150–172.
Ashby, F. G., &Maddox, W. T. (1993). Relations between prototype, exemplar, and decision bound models of categorization.Journal of Mathematical Psychology,37, 372–400.
Braida, L. D., &Durlach, N. I. (1972). Intensity perception: II. Resolution in one-interval paradigms.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,51, 483–502.
Erickson, M. A., &Kruschke, J. K. (1998). Rules and exemplars in category learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,127, 107–140.
Fried, L. S., &Holyoak, K. J. (1984). Induction of category distributions: A framework for classif ication learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,10, 234–257.
Goldstone, R. L. (1994). The role of similarity in categorization: Providing a groundwork.Cognition,52, 125–157.
Goldstone, R. L., &Barsalou, L. W. (1998). Reuniting perception and conception.Cognition,65, 231–262.
Green, D. M., &Swets, J. A. (1966).Signal detection theory and psychophysics. New York: Wiley.
Heit, E. (1994). Models of the effects of prior knowledge on category learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,20, 1264–1282.
Hintzman, D. L. (1986). “Schema abstraction” in a multiple-trace memory model.Psychological Review,93, 411–428.
Luce, R. D., Nosofsky, R. M., Green, D. M., &Smith, A. F. (1982). The bow and sequential effects in absolute identification.Perception & Psychophysics,32, 397–408.
Maddox, W. T., &Ashby, F. G. (1993). Comparing decision bound and exemplar models of categorization.Perception & Psychophysics,53, 49–70.
Medin, D. L., &Schaffer, M. M. (1978). Context theory of classification learning.Psychological Review,85, 207–238.
Nosofsky, R. M. (1984). Choice, similarity, and the context theory of classification.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,10, 104–114.
Nosofsky, R. [M.] (1985). Overall similarity and the identification of separable-dimension stimuli: A choice model analysis.Perception & Psychophysics,38, 415–432.
Nosofsky, R. M. (1986). Attention, similarity, and the identificationcategorization relationship.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,115, 39–57.
Nosofsky, R. M. (1987). Attention and learning processes in the identification and categorization of integral stimuli.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,13, 87–108.
Nosofsky, R. M. (1991). Tests of an exemplar model for relating perceptual classification and recognition memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,17, 3–27.
Nosofsky, R. M., &Johansen, M. K. (2000). Exemplar-based accounts of “multiple-system” phenomena in perceptual categorization.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,7, 375–402.
Nosofsky, R. M., Palmeri, T. J., &McKinley, S. C. (1994). Rule-plusexception model of classification learning.Psychological Review,101, 53–79.
Rips, L. J. (1989). Similarity, typicality, and categorization. In S. Vosniadou & A. Ortony (Eds.),Similarity and analogical reasoning (pp. 21–59). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Shepard, R. N. (1987). Toward a universal law of generalization for psychological science.Science,237, 1317–1323.
Shin, H. J., &Nosofsky, R. M. (1992). Similarity-scaling studies of dot-pattern classif ication and recognition.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,121, 278–304.
Smith, E. E., &Sloman, S. A. (1994). Similarity- versus rule-based categorization.Memory & Cognition,22, 377–386.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This work was supported by Grant PHS R01 MH48494-09 from the National Institute of Mental Health to R.M.N. and by a Jacob Javits Fellowship to A.L.C.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cohen, A.L., Nosofsky, R.M. & Zaki, S.R. Category variability, exemplar similarity, and perceptual classification. Memory & Cognition 29, 1165–1175 (2001). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03206386
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03206386