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An ERP Analysis of Recognition and Categorization Decisions in a Prototype-Distortion Task

BACKGROUND: Theories of categorization make different predictions about the underlying processes used to represent categories. Episodic theories suggest that categories are represented in memory by storing previously encountered exemplars in memory. Prototype theories suggest that categories are rep...

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Autores principales: Tunney, Richard J., Fernie, Gordon, Astle, Duncan E.
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2853558/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20404932
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0010116
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author Tunney, Richard J.
Fernie, Gordon
Astle, Duncan E.
author_facet Tunney, Richard J.
Fernie, Gordon
Astle, Duncan E.
author_sort Tunney, Richard J.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Theories of categorization make different predictions about the underlying processes used to represent categories. Episodic theories suggest that categories are represented in memory by storing previously encountered exemplars in memory. Prototype theories suggest that categories are represented in the form of a prototype independently of memory. A number of studies that show dissociations between categorization and recognition are often cited as evidence for the prototype account. These dissociations have compared recognition judgements made to one set of items to categorization judgements to a different set of items making a clear interpretation difficult. Instead of using different stimuli for different tests this experiment compares the processes by which participants make decisions about category membership in a prototype-distortion task and with recognition decisions about the same set of stimuli by examining the Event Related Potentials (ERPs) associated with them. METHOD: Sixty-three participants were asked to make categorization or recognition decisions about stimuli that either formed an artificial category or that were category non-members. We examined the ERP components associated with both kinds of decision for pre-exposed and control participants. CONCLUSION: In contrast to studies using different items we observed no behavioural differences between the two kinds of decision; participants were equally able to distinguish category members from non-members, regardless of whether they were performing a recognition or categorisation judgement. Interestingly, this did not interact with prior-exposure. However, the ERP data demonstrated that the early visual evoked response that discriminated category members from non-members was modulated by which judgement participants performed and whether they had been pre-exposed to category members. We conclude from this that any differences between categorization and recognition reflect differences in the information that participants focus on in the stimuli to make the judgements at test, rather than any differences in encoding or process.
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spelling pubmed-28535582010-04-19 An ERP Analysis of Recognition and Categorization Decisions in a Prototype-Distortion Task Tunney, Richard J. Fernie, Gordon Astle, Duncan E. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Theories of categorization make different predictions about the underlying processes used to represent categories. Episodic theories suggest that categories are represented in memory by storing previously encountered exemplars in memory. Prototype theories suggest that categories are represented in the form of a prototype independently of memory. A number of studies that show dissociations between categorization and recognition are often cited as evidence for the prototype account. These dissociations have compared recognition judgements made to one set of items to categorization judgements to a different set of items making a clear interpretation difficult. Instead of using different stimuli for different tests this experiment compares the processes by which participants make decisions about category membership in a prototype-distortion task and with recognition decisions about the same set of stimuli by examining the Event Related Potentials (ERPs) associated with them. METHOD: Sixty-three participants were asked to make categorization or recognition decisions about stimuli that either formed an artificial category or that were category non-members. We examined the ERP components associated with both kinds of decision for pre-exposed and control participants. CONCLUSION: In contrast to studies using different items we observed no behavioural differences between the two kinds of decision; participants were equally able to distinguish category members from non-members, regardless of whether they were performing a recognition or categorisation judgement. Interestingly, this did not interact with prior-exposure. However, the ERP data demonstrated that the early visual evoked response that discriminated category members from non-members was modulated by which judgement participants performed and whether they had been pre-exposed to category members. We conclude from this that any differences between categorization and recognition reflect differences in the information that participants focus on in the stimuli to make the judgements at test, rather than any differences in encoding or process. Public Library of Science 2010-04-12 /pmc/articles/PMC2853558/ /pubmed/20404932 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0010116 Text en Tunney et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Tunney, Richard J.
Fernie, Gordon
Astle, Duncan E.
An ERP Analysis of Recognition and Categorization Decisions in a Prototype-Distortion Task
title An ERP Analysis of Recognition and Categorization Decisions in a Prototype-Distortion Task
title_full An ERP Analysis of Recognition and Categorization Decisions in a Prototype-Distortion Task
title_fullStr An ERP Analysis of Recognition and Categorization Decisions in a Prototype-Distortion Task
title_full_unstemmed An ERP Analysis of Recognition and Categorization Decisions in a Prototype-Distortion Task
title_short An ERP Analysis of Recognition and Categorization Decisions in a Prototype-Distortion Task
title_sort erp analysis of recognition and categorization decisions in a prototype-distortion task
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2853558/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20404932
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0010116
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