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Categorization Method Affects the Typicality Effect: ERP Evidence from a Category-Inference Task

The typicality effect during categorization describes a phenomenon whereby typical items are more easily judged as members of a category than atypical items. Prior studies of the typicality effect have often used an inclusion task, which asks participants to assess whether an item belongs to a categ...

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Autores principales: Wang, Xiaoxi, Tao, Yun, Tempel, Tobias, Xu, Yuan, Li, Siqi, Tian, Yu, Li, Hong
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4756294/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26925011
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00184
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author Wang, Xiaoxi
Tao, Yun
Tempel, Tobias
Xu, Yuan
Li, Siqi
Tian, Yu
Li, Hong
author_facet Wang, Xiaoxi
Tao, Yun
Tempel, Tobias
Xu, Yuan
Li, Siqi
Tian, Yu
Li, Hong
author_sort Wang, Xiaoxi
collection PubMed
description The typicality effect during categorization describes a phenomenon whereby typical items are more easily judged as members of a category than atypical items. Prior studies of the typicality effect have often used an inclusion task, which asks participants to assess whether an item belongs to a category. However, the correct exclusion of non-members is also an important component of effective categorization, which has yet to be directly investigated. Thus, the present study investigated how categorization method (inclusion vs. exclusion) modulates the typicality effect via behavioral and electrophysiological measures. Thirty-two participants (16 in the inclusion and 16 in the exclusion group) were shown six consecutive words that all shared one feature. Then, a seventh word was presented. The inclusion group judged whether the seventh word also possessed the feature, whereas the exclusion group judged whether the word did not possess the feature. The seventh word could be typical, atypical, or a nonmember of the category. Behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) data were collected. Behavioral results showed that the two groups did not differ in accuracy. However, typical items elicited shorter response times than atypical items, and this effect was more pronounced in the inclusion than the exclusion group. With regard to ERPs, interactions between item type and group were shown for the P2, N2, and N400 periods. Within the inclusion group, a typicality effect (indicated by a main effect of item type) was present in the P2 and N400 time windows, while the exclusion group elicited a typicality effect only in the N2 time window. These results provide electrophysiological evidence that an inclusion judgment task is more sensitive to category typicality than is an exclusion task.
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spelling pubmed-47562942016-02-26 Categorization Method Affects the Typicality Effect: ERP Evidence from a Category-Inference Task Wang, Xiaoxi Tao, Yun Tempel, Tobias Xu, Yuan Li, Siqi Tian, Yu Li, Hong Front Psychol Psychology The typicality effect during categorization describes a phenomenon whereby typical items are more easily judged as members of a category than atypical items. Prior studies of the typicality effect have often used an inclusion task, which asks participants to assess whether an item belongs to a category. However, the correct exclusion of non-members is also an important component of effective categorization, which has yet to be directly investigated. Thus, the present study investigated how categorization method (inclusion vs. exclusion) modulates the typicality effect via behavioral and electrophysiological measures. Thirty-two participants (16 in the inclusion and 16 in the exclusion group) were shown six consecutive words that all shared one feature. Then, a seventh word was presented. The inclusion group judged whether the seventh word also possessed the feature, whereas the exclusion group judged whether the word did not possess the feature. The seventh word could be typical, atypical, or a nonmember of the category. Behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) data were collected. Behavioral results showed that the two groups did not differ in accuracy. However, typical items elicited shorter response times than atypical items, and this effect was more pronounced in the inclusion than the exclusion group. With regard to ERPs, interactions between item type and group were shown for the P2, N2, and N400 periods. Within the inclusion group, a typicality effect (indicated by a main effect of item type) was present in the P2 and N400 time windows, while the exclusion group elicited a typicality effect only in the N2 time window. These results provide electrophysiological evidence that an inclusion judgment task is more sensitive to category typicality than is an exclusion task. Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-02-17 /pmc/articles/PMC4756294/ /pubmed/26925011 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00184 Text en Copyright © 2016 Wang, Tao, Tempel, Xu, Li, Tian and Li. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Wang, Xiaoxi
Tao, Yun
Tempel, Tobias
Xu, Yuan
Li, Siqi
Tian, Yu
Li, Hong
Categorization Method Affects the Typicality Effect: ERP Evidence from a Category-Inference Task
title Categorization Method Affects the Typicality Effect: ERP Evidence from a Category-Inference Task
title_full Categorization Method Affects the Typicality Effect: ERP Evidence from a Category-Inference Task
title_fullStr Categorization Method Affects the Typicality Effect: ERP Evidence from a Category-Inference Task
title_full_unstemmed Categorization Method Affects the Typicality Effect: ERP Evidence from a Category-Inference Task
title_short Categorization Method Affects the Typicality Effect: ERP Evidence from a Category-Inference Task
title_sort categorization method affects the typicality effect: erp evidence from a category-inference task
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4756294/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26925011
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00184
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