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A Parainformative Concept Learning Task Involving Categorical Stimuli Defined Over Integral Dimensions

Zhao, Li
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5844-497X
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1499266526059129

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, Experimental Psychology (Arts and Sciences).
Human categorization performance has been studied using two fundamentally different empirical approaches: the “parainformative” approach and the “serioinformative” approach. Under the “parainformative” approach (Vigo, 2013), all objects in the target category are presented to participants for a certain amount of time before the classification phase begins (Feldman, 2000; Vigo, 2013; Vigo, Evans, & Owens, 2015; Vigo, Zeigler, & Halsey, 2013). In contrast, under the “serioinformative” approach, participants do not have prior knowledge of the target category. Instead, single object-stimuli from the target category are presented one at a time from the start, thereby forcing participants to gradually learn the associated concept on a trial by trial basis (Kruschke, 1992; Love & Medin, 1998; Nosofsky, Gluck, Palmeri, Mckinley, & Glauthier, 1994; Nosofsky & Palmeri, 1996). Both of these approaches have been used to test the robustness of the learning difficulty ordering of categories with four objects defined over three binary separable dimensions known as the “SHJ ordering” (Shepard, Hovland, & Jenkins, 1961). The corresponding category structures are called the SHJ category structures. Using the serioinformative approach, only Nosofsky and Palmeri (1996) studied these structures with integral dimensions. In their study, they found a learning difficulty ordering that was significantly different from the well-known SHJ ordering. The present study fills a gap in the extant literature by seeking to further understand how humans conceptualize and categorize the SHJ category structures involving integral dimensions using a parainformative approach, instead of using the serioinformative approach. It employed two different experiment methods for generating the dimensional values of stimuli—the multidimensional scaling (MDS) procedure and the Munsell Color System (MCS). To explore the different mechanisms of concept learning and categorization behavior when information is defined over separable dimensions and integral dimensions, two concept learning models were tested and compared to account for the data from the two experiments: the generalized context model (GCM; Nosofsky, 1984, 1986) and the generalized invariance structure theory model (GISTM; Vigo, 2013, 2014).
Ronaldo Vigo (Advisor)
53 p.
Cognitive Psychology; Psychology
parainformative approach; integral dimensions; concept learning; categorization; cognitive modeling

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Citations

  • Zhao, L. (2017). A Parainformative Concept Learning Task Involving Categorical Stimuli Defined Over Integral Dimensions [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1499266526059129

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Zhao, Li. A Parainformative Concept Learning Task Involving Categorical Stimuli Defined Over Integral Dimensions. 2017. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1499266526059129.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Zhao, Li. "A Parainformative Concept Learning Task Involving Categorical Stimuli Defined Over Integral Dimensions." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1499266526059129

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1499266526059129
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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.