Relations among categorization, induction, recognition, and similarity: Comment on Sloutsky and Fisher (2004).

V. M. Sloutsky and A. V. Fisher (see record 2004-14313-002) reported 5 experiments documenting relations among categorization, induction, recognition, and similarity in children as well as adults and proposed a new model of induction, SINC (similarity, induction, categorization). Those authors concluded that induction depends on perceptual similarity rather than conceptual knowledge. Despite the useful contributions of this work, there are some important limitations. The experimental designs examined a limited range of phenomena that are not the most revealing about the use of nonperceptual information. The main results involved a simple triad task, for which the SINC model's predictions are equivalent to the predictions of previous models of inductive reasoning. It is also unclear whether the SINC model can account for the observed relations between similarity and recognition. Implications for future work on induction and related cognitive activities are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Similarity, induction, naming, and categorization (SINC): Generalization or inductive reasoning? Reply to Heit and Hayes (2005).

This article is a response to E. Heit and B. K. Hayes's (see record 2005-14939-011) comment on the target article "Induction and Categorization in Young Children: A Similarity-Based Model" (V. M. Sloutsky & A. V. Fisher, 2004a). The response discusses points of agreement and disagreement with Heit and Hayes; phenomena predicted by similarity, induction, naming, and categorization (SINC); and relationships between SINC and models of verbal inductive reasoning, as well as contributions and limitations of SINC and directions for future research. Overall, the authors disagree with Heit and Hayes's analysis of limitations of SINC and with their analysis of SINC in the context of verbal inductive reasoning. At the same time, the authors agree that more research is needed to provide a unified account of similarity, induction, categorization, and recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison and Contrast in Perceptual Categorization.

People categorized pairs of perceptual stimuli that varied in both category membership and pairwise similarity. Experiments 1 and 2 showed categorization of 1 color of a pair to be reliably contrasted from that of the other. This similarity-based contrast effect occurred only when the context stimulus was relevant for the categorization of the target (Experiment 3). The effect was not simply owing to perceptual color contrast (Experiment 4), and it extended to pictures from common semantic categories (Experiment 5). Results were consistent with a sign-and-magnitude version of N. Stewart and G. D. A. Brown's (2005) similarity-dissimilarity generalized context model, in which categorization is affected by both similarity to and difference from target categories. The data are also modeled with criterion setting theory (M. Treisman & T. C. Williams, 1984), in which the decision criterion is systematically shifted toward the mean of the current stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do children profit from looking beyond looks? From similarity-based to cue abstraction processes in multiple-cue judgment.

The authors investigated the ability of 9- to 11-year-olds and of adults to use similarity-based and rule-based processes as a function of task characteristics in a task that can be considered either a categorization task or a multiple-cue judgment task, depending on the nature of the criterion (binary vs. continuous). Both children and adults relied on similarity-based processes in the categorization task. However, adults relied on cue abstraction in the multiple-cue judgment task, whereas the majority of children continued to rely on similarity-based processes. Reliance on cue abstraction resulted in better judgments for adults but not for children in the multiple-cue judgment task. This suggests that 9- to 11-year-olds may have defaulted to similarity-based processes because they were not able to employ a cue abstraction process efficiently. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Influence of Task Instruction on Action Coding: Constraint Setting or Direct Coding?

In 3 experiments, the authors manipulated response instructions for 2 concurrently performed tasks. Specifically, the authors' instructions described left and right keypresses on a manual task either as left versus right or as blue versus green keypresses and required either "left" versus "right" or "blue" versus "green" concurrent verbalizations. When instructions for responses on the 2 tasks were in terms of location (Experiment 1) or color (Experiments 2a and 2b), then compatible responses on the tasks were faster than incompatible responses. However, when the verbal task required "left" versus "right" responses but instructions for manual keypresses referred to blue versus green (Experiments 3a and 3b), then no response compatibility effects were observed. These results suggest that response labels used in the instruction directly determine the codes that are used to control responding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple Labels for Objects in Conversations With Young Children: Parents' Language and Children's Developing Expectations About Word Meanings.

Children sometimes seem to expect words to have mutually exclusive meanings in certain contexts of early word learning. In 2 studies, 12- to 24-month-old children and their parents were videotaped as they engaged in conversations while playing with sets of toys (sea creatures, vehicles, doll clothing) in free-play, storytelling, and categorization contexts. In both studies, parents demonstrated a reliable preference to provide just 1 label for a given object. Importantly, parents' violations of this preference were usually accompanied by clarifying (or "bridging") information that either indicated the relation between the 2 labels or suggested that 1 of the labels was appropriate. Further, in some contexts, parents' tendency to use multiple labels and to provide bridging information for multiple labels was correlated with children's productive vocabulary. It is argued that these findings support a socio-pragmatic hypothesis about the origins of children's early beliefs about word meanings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Scope of linguistic influence: Does a classifier system alter object concepts?

Whether and to what extent conceptual structure is universal is of great importance for understanding the nature of human concepts. Two major factors that might affect concepts are language and culture. The authors investigated whether these 2 factors affect concepts of everyday objects in any significant ways. Specifically, they tested (a) whether the system of grammatical categorization by classifiers influenced the conceptual structure of speakers of classifier languages, and (b) whether Westerners organized object concepts around taxonomic relations whereas Easterners organized them around thematic relations, as proposed by R. E. Nisbett (2003). The relative importance of 3 types of relations--taxonomic, thematic, and classifier--for Chinese and German speakers was tested using a range of tasks, including categorization, similarity judgment, property induction, and fast-speed word-picture matching. Some support for linguistic relativity as well as for the cultural-specific cognition proposal was found in some tasks, but these effects were miniscule compared with the importance of taxonomic and thematic relations for both language-culture groups. The authors conclude that the global structure of everyday object concepts is strikingly similar across different cultures and languages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How much does a shared name make things similar? Part 1. Linguistic labels and the development of similarity judgment.

Most theoretical proposals considering effects of language on similarity assume that labels affect similarity in a qualitative all-or-nothing manner. This article proposes another theoretical alternative—a model of the label as a discrete attribute of an object. According to this model, the relative weight of labels decreases with the child's age. Predictions derived from the model were tested in 3 experiments. In these experiments, children aged 6–12 years were presented with triads of schematic faces and were asked to make similarity judgments. Similarity of faces was manipulated via systematic variation of distinct facial features. It was found that (a) labels contribute to similarity judgment in a quantifiable manner, (b) labels' weight decreased with age, and (c) effects of labels are likely to stem from the cross-modality of labels. These results are discussed in relation to theories of development on categorization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Construct validation and internal consistency of the geometric categorization task (GEOCAT) for measuring primary and secondary processes.

The GEOCAT is a short nonverbal test for measuring two types of cognition that tally with Freud's distinction between primary and secondary unconscious processes: attributional and relational similarity judgment. Attributional similarity judgment is a mode of cognitive categorization in which stimuli are classified based on perceptual resemblances between attributes and features, just like in primary processing. Relational similarity judgment is a mode of cognitive categorization that builds on higher order relationships between stimuli, just like in secondary processing. The GEOCAT can be used in diverse research contexts, and test administration takes 2 minutes. The present study investigates the construct validity and internal consistency of this instrument in a sample of Belgian university students. A confirmatory factor analysis for binary items indicates that a dimension reflecting relational or attributional categorization processes lies behind the GEOCAT items, that this model has a good fit to the data, and that all items are equally good indicators of these processes. We also compared the GEOCAT to an alternative measure that builds on a continuous scale for similarity judgment. Correlations between corresponding subscales were moderate and three GEOCAT items proved to be problematic. Internal consistency proved to be good. Suggestions for future research on similarity judgment and primary and secondary processes are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enemies and Friends in the Neighborhood: Orthographic Similarity Effects in Semantic Categorization.

Studies investigating orthographic similarity effects in semantic tasks have produced inconsistent results. The authors investigated orthographic similarity effects in animacy decision and in contrast with previous studies, they took semantic congruency into account. In Experiments 1 and 2, performance to a target (cat) was better if a previously studied neighbor (rat) was congruent (i.e., belonged to the same animate-inanimate category) than it was if it was incongruent (e.g., mat). In Experiments 3 and 4, performance was better for targets with more preexisting congruent neighbors than for targets with more preexisting incongruent neighbors. These results demonstrate that orthographic similarity effects in semantic categorization are conditional on semantic congruency. This strongly suggests that semantic information becomes available before orthographic processing has been completed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processes of overall similarity sorting in free classification.

The processes of overall similarity sorting were investigated in 5 free classification experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that increasing time pressure can reduce the likelihood of overall similarity categorization. Experiment 3 showed that a concurrent load also reduced overall similarity sorting. These findings suggest that overall similarity sorting can be a time-consuming analytic process. Such results appear contrary to the idea that overall similarity is a nonanalytic process (e.g., T. B. Ward, 1983) but are in line with F. N. Milton and A. J. Wills's (2004) dimensional summation hypothesis and with the stochastic sampling assumptions of the extended generalized context model (K. Lamberts, 2000). Experiments 4 and 5 demonstrated that the relationship between stimulus presentation time and overall similarity sorting is nonmonotonic, and the shape of the function is consistent with the idea that the three aforementioned processes operate over different parts of the time course. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of similarity in artificial grammar learning.

The authors examine the role of similarity in artificial grammar learning (AGL; A. S. Reber, 1989). A standard finite-state language was used to create stimuli that were arrangements of embedded geometric shapes (Experiment 1), connected lines (Experiment 2), and sequences of shapes (Experiment 3). Main effects for well-known predictors from the literature (grammaticality, associative global and anchor chunk strength, novel global and anchor chunk strength, length of items, and edit distance) were observed, thus replicating previous work. However, the authors extend previous research by using a widely known similarity-based exemplar model of categorization (the generalized context model; R. M. Nosofsky, 1989) to fit grammaticality judgments, by nested regression analyses. The results suggest that any explanation of AGL that is based on the existing theories is incomplete without a similarity process as well. Also, the results provide a foundation for further interpreting AGL in the wider context of categorization research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concepts and conceptual structure.

Research and theory on categorization and conceptual structure have recently undergone two major shifts. The first shift is from the assumption that concepts have defining properties (the classical view) to the idea that concept representations may be based on properties that are only characteristic or typical of category examples (the probabilistic view). Both the probabilistic view and the classical view assume that categorization is driven by similarity relations. A major problem with describing category structure in terms of similarity is that the notion of similarity is too unconstrained to give an account of conceptual coherence. The second major shift is from the idea that concepts are organized around theories. In this article, the evidence and rationale associated with these shifts are described, and one means of integrating similarity-based and theory-driven categorization is outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Similarity-based categorization and fuzziness of natural categories

The adequacy of similarity to prototype as an account of categorization in natural concepts was assessed by analyzing the monotonicity of the relation between typicality of an item in a category and the probability of a positive categorization response using data from McCloskey and Glucksberg (1978). The analysis revealed a strong underlying similarity-based threshold curve, with systematic deviations. Further data collection showed that deviations from the curve could be attributed to the effects of unfamiliarity and non-categorical associations on typicality judgments, as well as differences between the perceptual appearance of an item (which tended to boost typicality) and its underlying nature (which tended to boost categorization). The results are discussed in terms of the different presuppositions and task constraints involved in rating typicality as opposed to performing a categorization.     

Conceptual and linguistic biases in children's word learning

Four studies examined the influence of essentialist information and perceptual similarity on preschoolers' interpretations of labels. In Study 1, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds were less likely to interpret 2 labels for animals as referring to mutually exclusive categories: when the animals were said to share internal, rather than superficial, properties and when the animals were perceptually similar rather than dissimilar. In Study 2, neither internal nor functional property information influenced 4-year-olds' interpretations of labels for artifacts. Studies 3 and 4 provide baseline data, demonstrating that the domain differences were not due to prior differences in children's lexical knowledge in the 2 domains. These results suggest that children have essentialist beliefs about animals, but not about artifacts, and that these beliefs interact with children's assumptions about word meaning in determining their interpretations of labels.     

Categorization processes in mental comparisons.

Five experiments explore categorization and category-based congruity effects in mental comparisons. The first 4 experiments concentrate on categorization of infinite-set small items. The experiments vary the additional items presented and whether those items appear once (Experiments 1-2) or repeatedly (Experiments 3-4). Additional items include other small items (Experiment 1), relatively large items (Experiments 2-4), and items involving nonsize dimensions (Experiment 4). The critical small items show a complete congruity effect only in Experiments 1 and 3. Results suggest that categorization of infinite-set items may be based on range information alone (Experiment 1) but that multiple categorizations based on multiple ranges (Experiment 2) may require attentional effort. Results implicate categorization as a central process in mental comparison, despite differences in ease of categorization across paradigm. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The magic spell of language: Linguistic categories and their perceptual consequences.

Language is a tool that directs attention to different aspects of reality. Using participants from the same linguistic community, the authors demonstrate in 4 studies that metasemantic features of linguistic categories influence basic perceptual processes. More specifically, the hypothesis that abstract versus concrete language leads to a more global versus local perceptual focus was supported across 4 experiments, in which participants used (Experiment 1) or were primed either supraliminally (Experiments 2 and 3) or subliminally (Experiment 4) with abstract (adjectives) or concrete (verbs) terms. Participants were shown to display a global versus specific perceptual focus (Experiments 1 and 4), more versus less inclusiveness of categorization (Experiments 2 and 3), and incorporation of more rather than less contextual information (Experiment 3). The implications of this new perspective toward the language-perception interface are discussed in the context of the general linguistic relativity debate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Young children's conception of lying: Moral intuition and the denotation and connotation of "to lie."

126 children (aged 4 yrs 2 mo to 5 yrs 11 mo) were told stories in which a protagonist with the intention to communicate truthfully said something false because he himself was mistaken. Ss were asked to judge whether the protagonist should be rewarded or punished for his false statement (moral judgment) and whether he had lied (lexical judgment). Replicating an earlier finding by the present authors (see record 1984-14615-001), there was a high number of inconsistent responses when the moral judgment was elicited first: Frequent subjectivist reward judgments were followed by realist "lying" judgments. Such an inconsistent response pattern was nearly absent when the lexical judgment was elicited first. Here the frequent realist lying judgments led to subsequent realist punishment judgments. Findings show (1) that young children's moral intuition about lying is advanced as compared to their definition to lie and (2) that children's realist definition of to lie carries a strong negative moral connotation that overrides their usual subjectivist moral intuitions. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory storage and retrieval processes in category learning.

Studied the detailed course of learning for categorization tasks defined by independent or contingent probability distributions over the features of category exemplars in 2 experiments with 72 college-age Ss. Ss viewed sequences of bar charts that simulated symptom patterns and responded to each chart with a recognition and a categorization judgment. Fuzzy, probabilistically defined categories were learned relatively rapidly when individual features were correlated with category assignment, more slowly when only patterns carried category information. Limits of performance were suboptimal, evidently because of capacity limitations on judgmental processes as well as limitations on memory. Categorization proved systematically related to feature and exemplar probabilities, under different circumstances, and to similarity among exemplars of categories. Unique retrieval cues for exemplar patterns facilitated recognition but entered into categorization only at retention intervals within the range of short-term memory. Findings are interpreted within the framework of a general array model that yields both exemplar-similarity and feature-frequency models as special cases and provides quantitative accounts of the course of learning in each of the categorization tasks studied. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Young children extend novel words at the basic level: Evidence for the principle of categorical scope.

If young children approached the task of word learning with a specific hypothesis about the meaning of novel count nouns, they could make the problem of word learning more tractable. Six experiments were conducted to test children's hypotheses about how labels map to object categories. Findings indicated that (a) 3- and 4-year-olds function with an antithematic bias; (b) children do not reliably extend novel nouns to superordinate exemplars when perceptual similarity is controlled until approximately age 7; and (c) children expect novel nouns to label taxonomic categories at the basic level, even in the presence of a perceptually compelling distractor. Results are interpreted as supporting the principle of categorical scope (R. M. Golinkoff, C. B. Mervis, & K. Hirsh-Pasek; see record 1994-40565-001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)