Abstract
This research examines whether an extension of range-frequency theory (Parducci, 1965) could successfully predict context effects on discrimination between stimuli for two-category rating data. The new model proposes that similarity comparisons between stimulus values and rating category prototypes take place on an implicit range—frequency scale, and thus it entails effects of context on both mean ratings and discrimination indices. Predictions of the similarity-based range—frequency model were tested in an experiment in which the frequency distribution was manipulated by varying the range and relative frequencies of squares, with participants rating square sizes on a two-category scale. The model provided a parsimonious account of how discriminability of common stimuli increases with a decrease in stimulus range or an increase in the density of stimuli within a subrange.
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This research was supported by NSF Grant SBR-9911132.
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Wedell, D.H. A similarity-based range—frequency model for two-category rating data. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 15, 638–643 (2008). https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.15.3.638
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.15.3.638