The adaptive nature of human categorization.

The Adaptive Nature of Human Categorization

A rational model of human categorization behavior is presented that assumes that categorization reflects the derivation of optimal estimates of the probability of unseen features of objects. A Bayesian analysis is performed of what optimal estimations would be if categories formed a disjoint partitioning of the object space and if features were independently displayed within a category. This Ba...

On the nature of implicit categorization.

Current categorization models disagree about whether people make a priori assumptions about the structure of unfamiliar categories. Data from two experiments provided strong evidence that people do not make such assumptions. These results rule out prototype models and many decision bound models of categorization. We review previously published neuropsychological results that favor the assumptio...

Visuomotor Control of Human Adaptive Locomotion: Understanding the Anticipatory Nature

To maintain balance during locomotion, the central nervous system (CNS) accommodates changes in the constraints of spatial environment (e.g., existence of an obstacle or changes in the surface properties). Locomotion while modifying the basic movement patterns in response to such constraints is referred to as adaptive locomotion. The most powerful means of ensuring balance during adaptive locom...

The Adaptive Nature of Culture

The scientific study of culture is made difficult because many of its definitions are ideational in nature. This creates nervousness among material-minded anthropologists because such definitions imply that culture is ethereal, superorganic, and immaterial. This apprehension is unwarranted. Analogous to data that exists physically on the surface of recording media such as a compact disc, cultur...

The Adaptive Nature of Impulsivity