Chapter 9

which of the following reaction time data sets illustrates the typicality effect for the bird category, given the following three trials? Trial 1: an owl is a bird Trial 2: a penguin is a bird Trial 3: a sparrow is a bird

583:653:518 msec

exemplar approach to categorization

The approach to categorization in which members of a category are judged against exemplars, examples of members of the category that the person has encountered in the past.

typicality effect

The finding that the more typical members of a category are classified more quickly than the less typical category members

semantic category approach

an approach to describing how semantic information is represented in the brain that proposes that there are specific neural circuits for some specific categories

basic level

the level of categorization that can be retrieved from memory most quickly and used most efficiently

Solomon Shereshevsky

- adaptive forgetting / perceptual summary mental shortcut facilitate

prototypes

- birds sentence verification (Smith, Rips, Shoben 1974) - a _______ is a bird - RT for...... > robin > eagle > pengiun > ostrich - feature overlap

Categorization - knowledge

- classical view essence - modern view fuzzy boundaries - hierarchical organization

sentence verification task

An experimental procedure, used for studying memory, in which participants are given simple sentences (e.g., "Cats are animals") and must respond as quickly as possible whether the sentence is true or false.

Classical view

Essence of odd number - binary membership yes or no each member as good as any other - is that actually how we categorize? no

When a participant is asked to list examples of the category vegetables, it is most likely that

a carrot would be named before eggplant

categorization

a cognitive process used to organize information by placing it into larger groupings of information

if you were to use a concrete metaphor to describe the classical view of categorization what would it be

a flat bottom bucket with infinitely sharp and narrow edges

prototype

a mental image or best example of a category

A task for determining how prototypical an object is would be

a task where participants rate the extent to which each member represents the category title

prototypee

average of exemplars

According to Rosch, the ____ level of categories is the psychologically "privileged" level of category that reflects people's everyday experience.

basic

the prototype approach to categorization states that a standard representation of category is based on

category members that have been encountered in the past

Two different definitions of ________ offered by your book include (a) "the mental representation of a class or individual," and (b) "the meaning of objects, events, and abstract ideas."

concepts

Not all of the members of everyday categories have the same features. Most fish have gills, fins, and scales. Sharks lack the feature of scales, yet they are still categorized as fish. This poses a problem for the _______ approach to categorization.

definitional

the definitional approach to categorization

doesn't work well for most natural objects like birds, trees, and plants.

fuzzy boundaries

essence of bachelor - who meets the conditions? who is a bachelor? bernard the monk charlie: married, separate david: unmarried, lives with gf ernie: married, looking - alternative to essence: fuzzy math yes or no / %

The principle illustrated when most people are able to recognize a variety of examples of chairs even though no one category member may have all of the characteristic properties of "chairs" (e.g., most chairs have four legs but not all do) is

family resemblance

which of the following represents a basic level item?

guitar

Imagine that a young child is just learning about the category "dog." Thus far, she has experienced only two dogs, one a small poodle and the other a large german shepherd. on her third encounter with a dog, she will be LEAST likely to correctly categorize the animal as a dog if that animal

is a dog that does not bark

According to the typicality effect,

items that are high in prototypicality are judged more rapidly as being in a group.

prototype approach to categorization

membership in a category is determined by comparing the object to a prototype that represents the category

fuzzy boundaries definition

no clear dividing line for membership

_______ is a "typical" member of a category

prototype

which approach to categorization involves forming a standard representation based on an average of category members that a person has encountered in the past?

prototype

what does a philosopher mean by the word essence? what are two consequences of the essentialist view of categorization? (binary membership and equal membership status)

set of singly necessary and jointly efficient conditionscategories have binary membership and each example is just as good as any other they are all the same...every example is either in or out of the category there is no debate

essence

singly necessary and jointly sufficient conditions

which of the following members would most likely be ranked highest in prototypicality in the "birds" category?

sparrow

Items high on prototypicality have ____ family resemblances.

strong

People playing the parlor game "20 Questions" often use hierarchical organization strategies. One player asks up to 20 yes/no questions to determine the identity of an object another player has selected. The player's questions usually start as general and get more specific as the player approaches a likely guess. Initial questions asked by a player are often one of three questions: "Is it an animal?" "Is it a vegetable?" and "Is it a mineral?" Each of these three questions describes which level of categorization?

superordinate

based on the information your textbook provided about different category types, jumping from ______ categories results in the largest gain in information

superordinate level to basic level

For the category "fruit," people give a higher typicality rating to "banana" than to "kiwi." Knowing that, we can also reason that

the word "fruit" will lead to a larger priming effect for banana than for kiwi

which of the following would be a basic level category?

truck

what is the effect of expertise? why?

what had been subordinate, an expert would consider basic

modern view

wittgenstein 1953 - what are the necessary and sufficient conditions for 'game'? essence vs family resemblance - binary membership (classical) vs fuzzy bound. (modern) - equal status (class.) vs prototype (modern) > birds and faces

Rosch found that participants respond more rapidly in a same-different task when presented with "good" examples of colors such as "red" and "green" than when they are presented with "poor" examples such as "pink" or "light green." The result of this experiment was interpreted as supporting the _____ approach to categorization.

prototype

Feature overlap

robin sparrow penguin - colors - size - sing? - swim/fly? - beak? - feathers?

Prototypes (faces)

solsto & mccarthy 1981 - study: identikit faces 75%-0% similar to prototype - test: member? old/new/prototype

If we were conducting an experiment on the effect knowledge has on categorization, we might compare the results of expert and non-expert groups. Suppose we compare horticulturalists to people with little knowledge about plants. If we asked the groups to name, as specifically as possible, five different plants seen around campus, we would predict that the expert group would primarily label plants on the _____ level, while the non-expert group would primarily label plants on the _____ level.

subordinate; basic

definitional approach to categorization

the idea that we can decide whether something is a member of a category by determining whether the object meets the definition of the category

Rosch and coworkers conducted an experiment in which participants were shown a category label, like car or vehicle, and then, after a brief delay, saw a picture. The participants' task was to indicate as rapidly as possible whether the picture was a member of the category. Their results showed

the priming effect was most robust for basic level categories

which of the following statements is not cited in your text as reason why categories are useful?

categories provide definitions of groups of related objects

Olin and Bob are neighbors. Olin loves birds and his father works for the zoo. He has been to a dozen bird sanctuaries, and he and his dad go on bird watching hikes once a month. In contrast, Bob doesn't think much about birds. His only contact with them is in his backyard. It would be correct to say that Olin's standard probably involves

more exemplars than bob's

research suggests that the ____ approach to categorization works best for small categories

exemplar

which approach to categorization can more easily take into account atypical cases such as flightless birds?

exemplar

_______ are actual members of a category that a person has encountered in the past

exemplars

Priming occurs when presentation of one stimulus

facilitates the response to another stimulus that usually follows closely in time.

which of the following is an example of the sentence verification technique?

indicate whether the following statement was previously presented: an apple is a fruit. YES NO