We previously introduced an exemplar model, named GCM-ISW, that exploits a highly exible weighting scheme. Our simulations showed that it records faster learning rates and higher asymptotic accuracies on several artiicial categorization tasks than models with more limited abilities to warp input spaces. This paper extends our previous work; it describes experimental results that suggest human s...

Considerable evidence indicates that causal information provides a vital constraint on conceptual representation and coherence. We investigated the role of causal information as a constraint on similarity, exploiting an asymmetry between predictive causal reasoning (given the cause, predict the effect) and diagnostic causal reasoning (given the effect, diagnose the cause). This asymmetry allowe...

An open question in category learning research is how prior knowledge affects the process of learning new concepts. Rehder and Murphy’s (2003) Knowledge Resonance (KRES) model of concept learning uses an interactive neural network to account for many observed effects related to prior knowledge, but cannot account for the learning of nonlinearly separable concepts. In this work, we extend the KR...

Medin and Schaffer's (1978) context theory of classification learning is interpreted in terms of Luce's (1963) choice theory and in terms of theoretical results obtained in multidimensional scaling theory. En route to this interpretation, quantitative relationships that may exist between identification and classification performance are investigated. It is suggested that the same basic choice p...

Across the world, people form folkbiological categories to capture their commonsense organization of the natural world. Structured in accordance with universal principles, folkbiological categories are also shaped by experience. Here we provide new evidence from the Wichi—an understudied indigenous community who live in the Chaco rainforest and speak their heritage language. A total of 44 Wichi...

Objectivity is a central tenet of the scientific process. That is, in order for science to be a successful tool for understanding the nature of reality it must be free from bias. This idea is so core to science that cases of explicit bias (e.g., data fabrication and false reporting of results) are both mystifying and sensational. In principle and (we hope) in practice, instances of bias can be ...

A free classification study is presented that uses eye-tracking to better characterize the strategies that are employed in the creation of overall similarity and single-dimension categories. The number of fixations across the dimensions and the proportion of dimensions fixated were significantly greater for overall similarity sorters than for single-dimension sorters. Single-dimension sorters g...