Technical Report #143

Learning to Classify Integral-Dimension Stimuli

Robert M. Nosofsky and Thomas J. Palmeri

Abstract

The authors tested 288 participants in the classic category-learning tasks introduced by Shepard, Hovland, and Jenkins (1961). However, whereas previous tests used separable-dimension stimuli, the present ones used integral-dimension stimuli. In contrast to previous results showing s superiority for the Type II problem over Types III, IV, and V, the reverse pattern was observed in the present research. This result confirms a fundamental prediction made by modern exemplar-based models of classification learning. The results are readily interpreted in terms of the extent to which selective-attention learning mechanisms operate when separable-dimension versus integral-dimension stimuli are used.