Aan Bone Wa norman i Categoriation ‘The Role of Visual Information in the Categorization of Pictures and Words Alastais Evins (Sspervisor: Prof Remo Jb, University of Pov. Sepember 1896 MSc Cagnlive Selene Coitive Slee Reach Cen, Schools eystlogy a Contr Sec, Univers of Blosingham Depsiment of Paychaogy, Univesity af Pav, Pa Alough vial snuty baweenpistores hat eos sbown to atet thet fegtion i, 1992) there me conascy ropa abet wheter the ‘nal inary Hen th referents of words ay ave a analogs ft in the catgerinion of wore. In a cuegariasion experiment, para. wee lower at cisifng pictures when preceded by vss dsr pine {elie to whem seeded by avis sme pms. AB aalogos eet was ‘ho feud for wd nding tht wa ifomaten about herent may ‘ect estegsriztn pocesn, These rele are Interpreted s nealing tha ‘inal Infrae i accent xepsiation of wor eer bees cf Ineextve rceses tetwen vis Infrmation abd souseran, ot teu isl nmin fore «component ft catcqpual fepesetations [Tule An ent vrson of Mrs (108) ote hse Ceneaood {nt Mee! shown capable of putts characterise th eect of ‘al eiming fects negra, “Teh rept bfies ely fomac segs fm Remo ok, Lt Lite, Kee {inte Oe Hap news BoAtastcr it Via information a Caeporiation Contents Inoduation = — 3 Diference inthe cauiication ofpicure and word ees] ‘he enfceny oval normaton nthe cesafeation of pcre a Visa sina ond propa i the ctor ofits and wort Iron itr te lint be eee of ord ash etegrtaton — “ von ‘An Expr ieee ane of vl int inaepizaton 4 tonale = 1 Se a : e . os Franny Sa etering snr ro. = 15 Method. =a = a 18 Rest nn = ” The Experiment oneness 7 1» ‘Method. : a ~ ao Porlpe es 9 Matra ed appara : 7 Detltherverternnnnnnn : 2 20 Prove sono nnn Rent = ——— " 2 Discusion = os Eremplar prooypicaly and visa formation a eategerition. % The pene eategeriatn ang ina cao ts, a flay. 25 sel injormation te categorization pees a word. = 29 ‘The lata beeen sisal formaon and semana norman. = 30 ‘oo atmate model f eaepotztionproeese- ee |e = |S = wee, feces ome | om femme me om Fa | [Be ef msm | sm ah ae sm aam | ais me” tos | tote = |z Sn & ie Sy Tes |e = |s 7 Se im coe | ae (BM uae | Soe om te] [Set toe | tm = = SS oe Tt me [RS = “Tests, with items a8 variable factor, shows tht the mean rated siniariies berween target stil and het vsually sar primes were sgnifcalydiffreot to rated silanes between arg stil andthe ily isi primes for pictures ((16) = 30.18, p-< 0.0001), words 15.59, p-<0.000.), and fr the piture/ word averages (16) = 25.08, p< 0.0001).Alastair Bins Visa nformation in Caepriion The Experiment Method Paricipans ‘Participants wee 24 Pyeology undergraduates atthe Univesity of Padova, Hal. Ptepation as pray volunay Materiete and apparatus ‘Targot stil and their respective primes wre selected on the basis of results fom the welminary visa sinilay ting study, However, in ition tothe visually sini and visually “iste pie codon acon condtin was cesed Which consisted of meaningless Figures, 2s primes in th plete contin, and of non-words, inthe word cndtion. As it was necessary to nse that the meanings Figures tended to consis of meter purely ong, curved else, nor rly non ongic angular forms, efor were made to achieve a Balance between the (RES of line used in thee constaton. Thi Helped fo ensure that fui and weapon exemple were not terry afeted. Te non-words were al phonological plausible Gin alin, an tir mean Feng was matched withthe mean lengths ofthe word jeimes inthe visually similar and dissimilar ‘ondtons, Non words wed ae shown in table 2 with thei respective primes. Al snten target, stil thus appeared in the conions one in which hey were preceeded by a visally sir rime, one in which the rime was visually dissimilar, anda conto condition in which he target ‘vas preceeded by a etnings prime, Pitre targets were always precede by pictre primes and word targets were always preseeded by word primes,ati ine ua informaton x Caeprtaron ‘Table 2. The non-words sed as primes for word targets nthe control condition i etnias me = = = Eq = ss. ‘om = = = E> |As tho min cms of this experiment are to investigate whether categorization of words may ‘utomatclly be inven by the visual proper of tse eferets, and how this process may be inocnced by the vival properties of prime, ii necessary to ene tht priming effets are antomatic, andre no so “ntegaive processes based on expectancies. This maybe achive into ways Fist, the simolus onset ssychrony (SOA) must be slicetly short as reported ty Williams (1996), reseuch by Nel (1977) suggests tht his should bein he order of 290 ms. ‘Secondly, the proportion of als where theresa specific lationship between he prime and the target, the wlatednesspopetion’, must be fo (Wiliams, 1996). To achieve this,» futher sisten exemplars were sled from the fit and weapon categories foreach of which thee primes were selected; 10 of which were iems with which the trgets had random visual relaionsip,sclected fren other categories and oe of which was either a meainges igure of ‘wor, These random filer ils nt ony reduced the propetion of rials whe thee wa specific relationship tevoen pees and targets, DUC Dy Increasing the st ue UE ial ‘between particular target stimuli, helped to prevent the possibiliy of intertrial priming of the target tinh Presentation of the tn and data recording were controled by “Pychlb” software on an Ape Macinos compute.acti Evins us formation in Ctegrtation Design “Target tems consid of th sixteen frit and weapen category exemplars and sixteen fille targets; anotor eight frit exemplars and eight weapon exemplar. Each ofthese appeared inthe the conditions; visually simi, visu dissimilar, andthe contol ondton, giving 96 wal. All ial appeared in bt the word ad the picture conditions, giving a otal of 192 rials. Partsipants wore tested ina 2x 2x 2 x3 within-subjects design. The independent variables were form of stimuis (pctre vs word), spe of target category (uit ve weapons), degree of roeypicalty (central ¥ peipberal) and degree of visual smi (similar vs disinilar ws conto. Procedure Pctre tials and word als wer pit ix two blocks, wih 96 rls in each. The picture block ceeded the word boc for half the participant, an followed the won trl forthe oer half aricipans wee tld wich block they would be rclving, and were provided wi a shor lal session before cach boc to fairs them withthe rocedre ru and weapon targets and 3 sto pines that appv in the tial id ot featre in the rin experiment. Patcpants were required to categorise ape simul as ther rit ora weapon, and were requested to espond as quickly as possible, without making mistakes, Hal the picipants pressed left response key if the target was frit, abd ght response key if i was a weapon, The response order was reversed forthe other half. Response type (comseVincooe) and response Intent othe nearest rillsecond were record foreach target stimulus, The ower of stimulus presentation was etemined randomly forboth the word andthe picture conditions, with he constants tht at lest five oe tre tml tl appear between cosecative presentations ofthe sume tng, ad 1 moe than five target stimal from the sume category could appear sequentially, Als, as each prime stimulus appeared thre times, ach nein afeent visual similarity condition, i was ocesary fo es tha the oder in which targets appeared in he thee diferent conens was counterbulanced across rget sme This ensaes tat posible effet of inter-ilpriing on the identifeation of tart smal does nat result in visu smitariy being confounded with presentation order. To aioe this at east two target simul fom either etgory had 10 sppearAlastair Evins Visual information in Categortaton in each ofthe visual smarty condos on tee fist, sco and third presentations. Once the quasirandom order of presentations forthe word and pesue conditions was established, i semaine the same for al participants ‘Sinu wete presented ora sersn controlled by @ Macintosh compe. Pictures subtended 2 visual angle of 3.5° horizontally by 3° verily, each character ofthe wor stimu subended (06 horizontally by 0.7 etaly Participants were seated ata table na sound stented room separate from the expesientr. The prime duration, intersimalus jteral, target stimalas oration, inertial interval and the order of stimulos presattion were all controled stomatal After presentation of ination 0s or 100 ms primes were displayed fr 100 ms followed by a 200 ms bank field before the resentation of the age imal giving a tal SOA of 300, Tarast stl were presented for 400 ms, ding o afer wich participants responded to thee epocive categories. Response type and reaction ines, taken fom the onset of the target stimu, were stematclly ecorded Mer a respons, a Hank Fld was isle ring the inter rial interval ‘tone secon, Patcpans were given short bcakof approximately 4 minutes between Blocks. Resuls ‘Tablo 3. shows the mein cortect reaction Hines 19 target stmall and enor rates for visually sini, disimilar, and cont conditions for both categories in both the word and he pice ‘conditions: The patem of resus is Masato in figure 4. Table 4. shows the mean comet reaction times for central and pexpheal category exemplars in each contin. Aay reaction ies ‘outside three standard evans from the mea fom all sjets in ie the word and picts condions were counted as ers, Total eoes an ontlyingresetion times aeounted fr 3.1% of ait the date, Reaction tins outside two standard deviations fom a subjets mean in a pareul condition (woot of picts) were rplced with that value. There was a significant positive conelation between err rates ae reaction times (p= 0.05), ruling ot spoed-acuray trae- oft.Att ins Vina information n Categoria ‘Table 2. mean correct reaction times in Milseconds and error percentage rats. ae) Figure 4, Mean classification reaction times for fruit and weapons inthe picture and ‘word conditions as a faction of visual snilarty becweena prime and the target stimu Fre 3) “pect tnt eer pew etAlain Vil sormain in Categorization Table 4, Mean correct seation tines for prototypical and peripheral exemplars ips | a na suum sano satan] gous casas asap ete a ed “0 el grooms) we tas ar oo a SRR) NE sh et Sapt Sn EM] east cre soos au seas | assent vn SES Sat SS] rest ‘he data was analysed ting an analysis of variance (ANOVA) with both tems and subjects a8 random factors. The fackrs considered inthe ANOVA were stim frm (Pitre vs, word, category (Grit vs, weapons), prtoypcalty (central v8, peripher), and visual relitionship ‘between the prime and th target (ii, dsiar, nl coawa), The ANOVA by subjects Was. 41x22 x3 within-utjpts design, an the ANOVA by items was a2 20 x 3) design with category ard degree of typical as Between-sbjets factors In all analyses, the erteion for atical significance was po0.5, ‘There was an overall tet ofthe visual relationship Beewen the prime andthe target bth by subjects (Fe 246) = 643, MS, = 135283, p= 0.03) and by ites (Fae (2.24) = 3.43, MS, = 441863, p = 0.05), de o te fact that tems precsedd by visually dissimilar prime wore categorized slower than trgetsprecoded by both visually similar (606 ms v8. $86 ms) and cone primes (606 ms ys $85 my. Tests with subjets as a random factor eval that his cfet was siiieant been the visually similar re coniton and the dsinila comiton for words (23)= 3:3, p = 0.001) and fr petres (23) = issn and control condone for words (23) = 259, p= 0.008) and for pietures (23) = = 223, p= 0.01), bat the deences tween similar andthe conta conttons were not significant for eter words or picwres. Pictures were categorie sguificaly faster han words (SSI mews {634 bth by sujet (Pa (128) = 63.86, MS, 83, p = 0039), and bere the 18245, p< 0.01), and by ems (FayAlot ine Vu nformation a Categorization (4.12) = 109.6, MS, = 1266.7, p< 0.001, An interaction beeen sims form und elegy ‘ype by sujet, Pan (123) = 1635, MS, = 25638.3, p= OCO1; and by items Fy (112) = {684, MS, = 101512, p< 0.05), was dv tothe fat that weapons were cuepoied signify slower than raisin the word condition (648 ms vs, 620 ms), but hee was no cern in de icture condition (S86 m8 vs. 556 ms). The prouypicaliy of target atimalt had an overall significant eet (by subjects, Fru (1,29) = 27.08, MS, = 1636.6, p< 0001; and by items ax (12) = 565, MS, = 739.1, p < 005) becamse extgoriztion of central category cexcmplrs was faster tha that of psiherl exemplars (588 ms vs, 60L ms). However, there was ro iteration between protoypiaity and vial silat, indicating that the visual relationship tween the prime and te target id not cifleensialy effect central and peripheral category exemplars. ‘A futher ANOVA, with subjets as random factors and block presentation order a a betweet- subjects facto, was uso fo fest whether Black order (petres Fist, or word fs) may have ‘afscned the results. This would obtis, for instance, if ere was a cany-over effet from the picture to the word endton for thse participants who were presented the picture Block before the word block, in wick case we may expect an interaction between block ceder, stimulus form and / orth visual smiarty relationship. This ANOVA revealed, however, that there was no et of block ode on any ofthe conditions. ‘These results show tht patcipants categorized pictures sigifianly faster than words, replicating the findings of Rosch (1975) and Poter & Fauione (1975), amongst thers Jobe (1992 found tat presentation of two visually sila pictures of tems fom different eaerores could render pictre structural knows 8 vealed ina object non-cbjectsriminton task, yet was imped wt cessing semantic infomation about these objets when presente na pictare format (but nat ‘ven presented in word fomat), This taken to mgges that stractual information may be functionally separted ftom semua information, Moreover, 18s ability wo eeess semantic ‘now from pictures and name them is inluencod by whether the objets belong to categories where the exemplars ted tobe structurally similar. is suggested that JB's deficit ests fom Impaired access to semantic informatio from stroctoral infomation. The fet that strctrat similarity fet this acess suggests that information transmission between different eyes of nowedge is continuous, as opposed to discrete. This continous transmission, cefeted to as ‘arcade processing, bas «number of ingortnt implications for modular decompositions of copstve processes. Fil, the effets of processes within one module aren't confined tt module, as JB's defcillstates. This constitutes evidence against Fodor's informational ncapltion onset 1983). Sond, it sggsts that complex interactions between ferent ‘Kinds of infomation are posible, This being the case, the effets of impaired Knowledge of one ‘ype may ony be evident in aks assumed o rely on knowodge of another type. Similarly, may ‘be ifical to distinguish between eet eto semantic processing and fects dt nerntion wit strutral syste, making formal fenton diinton bueween srt! and semantic information problematic. janis moiyhypaess, Foor (198) seg a Inman wii ne moe i ee Tis ‘nto a enna infomation eee le eee no nl ale ace he neal ‘rae ae mole ap, Ss Mfrs (1983 far ge females.Ast vine Mut aformation in Capron Shalce (1988) sugges tata semantic system may be decomposed into a number of modality specific subysteme? (although he des sites that hese subsystems do not correspond with 3 tion of modules, at dic by Fodor). Moreover, each subrysem contains nly past of the semantic desertion ofa erm,” (Shalic, 1985). 1s assumed that one such subsystem represents visual infomation; visual semantic syst, At ist gnc, its no clear how this sibsystem is to be differentiated from strcural description sysem. However, Humphreys, Ridoch & ‘Quinlan (1988) diferentes & stvetaral description system from a semantic sytem by suggesting that inthe forme, “asocations betwen objects ped not be represented”, whereas “such asocatios are etal the notion of sus semantic sytem, However, because ier the tetra ysem ras be seni to the vss elatioships between cbc (Lato, 1996), oF visual relationships (nd dus visual information) rms be represented a a integral component of «4 conceptnl represent system, Iwill astm that ‘asocations' here refer to semantic (n00- peep associations, Diffrentaton between visual and concep knowhege in epresenaional tems is problemi. or instance, Coramazzs ot al (1990) chim that te function of 3-0 description system is 10 access semantic represetations (p. 168), yet, a8 metioned artic, he ill ims that semantic information must include percept information. Like Humphreys, by distinguishing between & reseiantc sytem, suas -D desertion sytem, and semi representations, Caamazza |s distinguishing bxtween a representational sytem that doesnot repeseat semantic associations between objects (pre-erantic), and one tat does (semantic). AS suggested above if emcade cessing is essumed fo pert between different epresettonal systems, then determining the love at which direc tscations obtain between representations is problematic. Whereas Shale offer an explanatory framework for semantic dissocitions based on composition of concept system ito modality rented subsystems, Caramazaa suggest that ‘rece i sone eto soot what et of kop hee ssn eet uh Rio [G98 cpus saute Sic mie ants yes. On oe din. te ab (ekcciepen tv and fen orion pete ict mies nt ou. ‘Rus imgies rope lps fast beer te ell bl kay Be ce otk TMatena seneae yon nd etalon yen. Ox cond eg he seam eles eee ie rc nd na rn roti at th ov el tak seman lyse srl bye per feet ee (een a, epeys Roch Qu 1988 p14, aAlast Btes Vis formation in Categrietion ty assuming that seme representations are intemal suctured, such disciatons may be ‘explsinod within a nitary semantic system (Caramazza, 1980). On this view we may assume, fo example, that the links ing the senate fests that sepresct vis estes of an objet (eg the sractre ofa chi) with funcional characteristics (that cha re for siting ae ‘song than hose rei with ther sete properties (that cas ae faite). From this, we muy asue th “Samage to semantic representation could resin ifsc Impsrment of te reaions annng the comport fests ofthe meaning of emg elatvely teue peered infomation shout str / fenton relions an about st / calgary aon” Disociation tween dire kindof now eased to resi fom daa ‘teeny impang rations between fears of conepl. On hs view, spe of information ss fncinall distinguished by he nature of the connections tat features of hap enjoy wih fears of ther yes. tn er picture / word clasifiionexpesiment, Loto (1996) found that when discriminating two semantically related, vsully similar pices, clasifcation latncies were as lng as for swords. She argues that he picture classification advantage, as explained by the Caramazza al mode in ens of iret corlations between visual features and certain seman poate, is inndequate to secount fe this result I is no clear, however, that his is the ease, Semanclly rele epresrftiona dructures may nt necessarily share any visual features, but may share great many semantic eurs (eg the somuatcally related objets nthe Leto study, consisting cout and vegetable exemplars, are asicsed in many way; dey are bh organic objet fram plants, they may bith be ten, le) Job etal (1992) suggested that visually sini objets may take longer to dsrimite beomte they share visual fetures,analogesly objets that share senate Featres may ao be more difficult to dkrminat than chests that are less seaically related, resting inthe lange cusifcton respons neni reported by Lato, Wit cnc processing astmtons, wish imply interston pines heween erate ‘of knowles, it becomes difcl to fenctonallydisciminte between strato system and a semantic system, Moreover, Neuropsyebological mpairments tha usify postulating a structural destigtion system may be expo’ within a unitary system; eo am effect bing theresa of damage afetng a cecain kind of association betwen structural ifermation and some other types of more sbstrct information. 2Nati vine Via information in Categorization “The effects of visa similarly tween a prime anda target may be explained using either of these model, Recall that inthe expesiment, presentation of a visually sina prime id mit fest eegoizaton ltncies in elton to control conto, but pesentaton of visly dissimilar ‘rime significantly increas! latencies. entiation of sient visual features of target, which tcp in hse, appear tobe slowed if numberof very lent features have been previously activated, Asa stctoral desertion system may be construed as being sensi to visual information (Ltt, 1996; Humphreys, 1977) hese effects may occur wihin a srtrst system. Making the assunpton that ranemision of afermaton between semantic sytem and & structural description system may operate in cascade, theft of visual sinarity betwexn the referents of words may be explined in tem f interactive processes betwen thes wo modules (as itsratd in Figure $) In hs ease, identification of word would be asumed 0 ely on setivation of semantic sepresentation, lading 0 interactive stivaton of comesponding visual Information in «structural desertion sto (although the aetvation of vise information may ot be necessary for idttfication ofthe werd) Inthe priming conditions of the experiment, the ime word issued © stivate seni efonnation and visual infomation in the sevtural description system, Subiequent presentation of a target word would similaiy sctvate both semantic ant visual infomation. As ativation of representational stctures comespanding to the ime ae sil partly atvted in both he semantic system andthe statute he extent {0 which structural presentations filo ovela inthe visually simi condition) wll inhibit setivaton ofthe structural features cotesponding wo the age stimulus. As representations witha the structural description sytem and the semantic system are assumed to inert via cascade processes inition ofthe activation of structural features of target wi facilitation between semantic predicates and structural features in relation to the coin in which structural features ares ited (he visually similar contin) Inhibitory processes within on of a semantic repesenaton, ad thus eepurizaton. Avloyons ibibiory process muy be wana to opeate within tbe sane ‘jstem and within the rb system’, An analogous interaction between a semntic system and the verbal system my explain Spee ls (1988) Finding thet picture classification wa affected bythe phonological simiaity Between heir referonee words, low the iterative trvcturl syst may thus slowAlastair Bins wl ormation in Catesriton Figure 5 Interactive activation of stractra information via cascade processes presentation of @ word. ‘Cuca processing beeen treclellow acive {ctv of vis oares Sd sent eats {nthe conto condom, clegriation response ltcacis wee the sme asin the visual sini ‘ondton. This impli tat the degree of visual silty belween the prime and the target was insficent to produce any ficitatory effets. In x study of eaegory infrmation and visual similar in pre conscoas processing, Humphreys (1977) found that ny faiitstatory effets hat nay act fom ally cving tage’ category ot visual features snot of the same magitade 8 ihititry eects asin from invalid cues. This suppocs that hypothesis that categorization Inca differences betwen the visually simile snd isinilar condos in this expeinent aie from inhibitory effects in the visaly dissimilar cendion. However, although i is plausible 19 sue tha the non-words used primes nthe cota conon for words did not activate ary semantic or struct infnation itis mts obvious that the meaningless figures used a contol rims for pictures di nt ativate at least some stractural information. Ina stay of implicit. ‘merry for novel vias objects, Schacter and Cooper (190) found that reall of pctres of structurally impossible chjeets was sigifiany wos than that for sturelly possible objets “They inter this a iniaing that wheres representations for some types of objects may be stored in a stractoral stn, strectaraly impossible objets al to be stored in any way. Tis Iugies that some object, ond parienlany fair abject, sam eoposente in the sutra desertion sytem, Presentation of « completly novel nowobect may thus be assumed (0 ‘eonespond to no epseationa struct inthe stratral description system, implying that hee minimal tivation of any vital features within this system, “The eects of visa smarty between the referents of words may be explained as iteration ‘eotwoon a tuctraldesipion sym and semantic sytem, bat we may alternatively some “lati Bins inl formation i Categorization that visual features of m object may be epesnted with other ypes of modality specie lagoon and more aherat semantic iaformasin ina unitary sytem (Caramaza etal, 1990), 1 this case, presentation of sinus dough either visual or verbal systems would activate visual or verbal features the semantic system respectively. Activation of these features may “spread” (Coline and Lots, 1975) other types of Features fa representation. tn his as, dhe eifects of the visual similarly between a prime and a trpet may be explained in terms of Inhibitory effects betwen fetes in much the same way 8 iibition may operate between vista features within a stwcural description sytem, the only diffrence being that whereas the Intenctve activation tetmeen visual and semantic fetues relied en cascade processes opting ‘ecweon a structural systsn and a seman system, inthis ese, inactive activation may be sssumed to operate within one system. On these assumptions, the inhibitory effets du to the enre of visual disinilaty between the referent of a pine word and a target word ae de 10 inhibitory effets betwee the viel fetes activated at elmans ofthe representation of the ime, an the visual features activated as part of he target stimulus. However, inthe pitare conto, the same effet may be explained by the same inhibitry process or a combination of lets operating at more peripheral processing levels and those opeaing whi a semantic system, Humpheeys ivstigation of eaegory lnfoamation in perception shows that category ‘eltonships and visual saionships bewoon a prime and a target hive considerable efets cetegoiaton even when prime dans ato shat (25 ms) fr any awareness orientation ‘ofthe pine, This suggests that i ie pousile that some ofthe effet of priming inthe pete onion in this experiment maybe det pring ets in he visual systems, Two alternative model of categorization processes “Te in ence of dfeten: types of information om he categorization process has teen dscessed, ‘nt very litle as bees sid about cuegorizaton isl. ‘Clase conceptions of lssifiation 28 involving a sto cess and sficient codon for category membership ate problematic ve to problems of defining everyday concep" (Fodor, Garret, Walker, & Parkes, 1980) ard problems due to contnt (Lakoff, 1987)". Partly due to tese problems, categorization is Witgentein (195) ges that categorie canot be hase on neces sft condos, at ‘gered on fall teseablanes Feueenced in abn & Chater 1990)Masta ns Via infomation n Categorisation frequemly assumed io invelve a comparison between an instance and some otros or objcts lord in longterm meme. In auton, this comparison i assumed to involv a judgement of the Similarity bebe aise ad ths stored rpresentation() this smiaity may be Basd on a feature comparison. Exaly what the instince i compared aint, and the nature of the compart, dsinguishes rotype and exemplar views fom each oe. ‘As is name would sugest,prototype views sssume tht on encountering a new object, itis compared with protoypes of diferent categories. Caepory prototypes have been variously concep as ihe sbstractons representing the central tendencies or average properties of category exemplars Bastloe, 1987)", oF as ope ora mumber of panicularly representative cxemplars ofthe category (Laka, 1987; Burs, 1987). On tis view, categorization of an instance is achieved though comping its features with those of category prottypes. This etemines sili ween prototype a the isanc: i the similarity betwen the istance and prototype is sutfciemly high, then i i eaegoized as an instance of the category corespondingt tht proype Ateratvely, categorization may be assumed to involve comparison of novel instnce of category with all of tome previously encountered exemplar, which are assumed co be stored in Jone term memory. No necessity ae sufiint features or probable features of exemplars need be ssrasted 8 "he epeicaton af tho catagory is impli 1996) Agim eiegorizaton is ssumed to ey on 8 measce of similarity, but similar between tn it estances" (Hahn and Chater the instance and all tore exemplars of categrics is commonly asume to be necessary (Mesin and Schaffer, 1978; Nos, 1988). Tie simiarity may dterine a probability that the novel object is a instanceof apart category. Sinitariy and spatiat representations of ects CCealy, the ston of similarity ie cent to both these models; an adequate sytem of ‘oncepualising smiariy is therefore essential. I¢ has been proposed that objects may be reprevened as prints in a ruli-dimoysonal space, where dimensions correspond to object, Raters in Han & Ctr (1996),Alar Bins en normaion in Categorization features”. The distance baween these pont eflecs how dissimilar the two objects are. Such seaces may be const from explicit siiarity ratings sing sista technique called rut diasensional cling (Shepard, 1980; gvensniaty ratings been ech member ofa se of objects, and ll oer rember of that ea space may be constructed in which the distances ‘between all the objets cesponds a closely as posible the rated similarity between Hose bjets, Unfotmaely, he visual sinlarity data obtained jn the preliminary sty 0 this ‘experiment i only sffident wo represent visual siilarity on one dimension. This is Boase sini ratings were ony obtained bec ce primes and the target tml. A spat mode may he adequne to represent similares between many stimuli, but to explain categorization an secon of bow this spaces ed must be pid. Nosofaky (1986) has developed an exemplar ods of categorization tht ues this space to detennine similarities. This has yielded accurate secounts of human ctegraton performance under a mumbo coins. ‘By idemttying feataes of he stim wed in th experiment, an by anspesing these Features ‘ato dimensions, each pine and cach age maybe repeesoited as 2 pint ina makiimensional ‘ature space. Such fess may incu both visual and semantic fares, nd de tothe ities of king a solute fntonsdsinction between visual etues and more abstract semantic etre (as diseased above, bth eyes features may correspond to dimensions in ‘ne pace. Although such dimensions are stall considered continous, this snot absolute requirement the exten values on mension may bo equally be conceptualised as inary. For inane, in the experimertl simi, ui exemplars ended tobe spherical and weapons exemplar tended to belonged hee global shapes may be represented athe extemevaes on cme binary dimension, Afri exemplar share more features with each he than weapon exemplars, and vce vers ft wil nd to caster etsived instance ofa rt would be closer to each ofthe ft exemplar eatiefo weapon ‘vemplars, and woudl habe categorized with he stored fut exemplars, Silly, primes may ‘be roposnied ae pine ie thr pace A the Jere of vin smi hatwoon prim ae targets affects calegorizatn, he distance between a representation of «prime anda representation of target inthis spice may afet he way in which ditnce i wsed to determine is space relative toa weap cluster A eatgary member. 3 Sacha space yb conpalied nwo maser covenet way of eresetng sinaity dan ora posi del of mental repression nd peeved start (ahn & Chater, 1990, ”Alu Bois iat ngormaton i Ctegoraton ‘Towards a formal model of priming effects As discussed shove if cade processes are asume to operat Between 3 rrstraldseiton ‘stem anda conceptual stem, untional ditinctons Between eects dv to this interaction, and effets du to visual infomation in a seman system re problematic. The made desried ere oes not liferette between strctral features and remantc fetes, bu this doss ot mean ‘hat the model makes any strong claim about the medular organisation of difeent spes of Jnowedge. The model resents a formal account of categorization at a molar level, and ix ‘esentialy uta in respect (0 the fintiona egansatin of diffrent types of knowledge. To ‘make tho model snsive tothe ogunintion of diferent types of knowles inthe harman cognitive sytem would mcesitatedisingushng diferent tyes of feature dimensions, Pose dapsions tthe made at woold make this possible are discussed below, ‘The Generalised Contest Model Contemporary exemplar based theories of clasifistion using spa] models have provided accurate formal accounts af human classification of complex stim ina wide range of sitions (eg, Nosofty, 1986; Msin sn Schafer, 1978). In such models» maliiensionsl space i fined by m dimensions in which each dinension comesponds 10 parila fee of an exemplar. By making te assumption that a parcular exemplar may be meresented bya set of fr both ypes of similarity measure,Ati ine sl information Categorization Figure 7. similarity ar « function of distance for both the catgrizaton similarity gradient (which determines the similarity Benween a stimuli and stored exemplars) and the prime Similarity gradient (which determines the sinlarty Benen apie and atorget tial). Satry between ries and tage stil aa fencton of ‘stance Sina between in nt red exemplars a3 anton of ‘Stance ‘As figure 7. iuststes, similarity betweon pres and targets may be higher than smiarity ‘etween still and stowd exemplars. In a categorization task, a stimulus tht fers on dimensions witha stored exemplar of another extegory may havea ery fw simiaty with that stored exempla, and wil have very low probability of beng classified in that ctr extegor, Fowover, if tht other exsmplar were sed to pine the same target til, smiarity would be higher, and quite possibly suiint to significamly effet categorization. However, although this ‘interpretation of these derenes is inttvely appealing, hese two siniaity measures have very iterent faetional role inthe mod, so the valuo of such a det comparison between thei ‘values is questionable Autention weights "Tale shows the values fhe aention weights after optimisation. Is clear ha the atention weight conespondng othe lol shape dimensions considerably higher than my ofthe ters “Thshas th elects of seth” the pce inthe direction ofthis dimension, decreasing similar between exemplars in respect this densin, thas showing that pba shapeAlot Bins inal norman in Ctegrication iipts in the clasifktion proces toa greter extent than any ofthe oer dimensions. I has also achieved elavely hgh vue because the only reliable vs dimension on which primes uc visullydsimilar fo get tn i global shape, As the atetion weights participa in dcamining the distance between a rime anda tage, high tecon to this dimension wil mean that visually dssimiar ries (based on global shape) wil init categorization of the target. ‘All fvitexemplars save nay the toe values othe semantic dimensions, all weapon exemplars, meaning srechng the features pce in he drections ofthese dimensions would ass categoviaton ofthe fit and weapon targets: However, these dimensions havent become as salen she gba shape dimension. This as occurred because ho the visually simian the isu dsiilr pine tial ifr consistent on these dimension rom frit and weagon exemplar. creasing alton tothe dimensous woul result in greater distances between the visually similar primes the targets, decreasing the dferencetin silty between the wo types of primes andthe tages, This would mean a decrease in the extent o which vill siniar an ssi pines dfeenall fect the categorization ofthe primes. This indicts that lobe shape as bscome pricy salient inthe categorization of th target sti, AS suggested erie, a visaleategoization ategy may have become important in diferetating ht and weapons this confirmed by the mod General disussion The model “This mmol may adequately characterise the experimental data and is offered as a candids jchologieal model of sul priming effects arising from pictures and words, However, give the problem of developing » pinsipled sepesettonal format forthe input. itis impossible to ‘wlegustely test the mod, Because the simul used inthe experiment cose of pets and he reference wors of red bjs, and Beeause we do ot know on which dimensions poops deni and categorie these snl, t was imposible to construct highly princpk representations ofthe stimuli This fas the uncesable cosequence thai difiltco detersine wheter the model's sucess shoul beat min 0 the strctring of he inp ort the adequacy ofthe model “Athough in coujnction with each other, the ceprescntaionalsircturing ofthe input and the Pyasta Bvins ssl aformation x Caesrianon model work well, given oer representations, the ability ofthe resent model to adequately predict, the effets of priming may not be so adequate Weniteation of semantic festures and the developmont of adequate semantic representations would be even moe potlemati than tht of picture features. As mentioned above, these have teen included in the pent model for illustrative purposes, but wih suitably developed represcoatonl stuctaes, the semantic dirensions could mol srmntic priming effets, and ‘even help to deermine te saince of particular semantic dimeasions of prime in infvecing bsoquent categorization of astm "Totes the meguaey of he model sa general theory of priming effects on enegrization would equie the development representational sructres bat are itomxphic with tmal sed in he ‘experiment. This would low explicit manipulation ofthe difzenceshetween primes and targets ca ether pater single dimensions, o combination of dimensions. A representational format forthe input to te mol could then be dicey based on the dimensions of the experimental tit, Asa formal mol of he eles of vival pring and possibly other types of priming), the model may be tested, rowever, uy also be sed a statistical fool ef Lamberts, 1995), 10 ‘est hypotheses about parameter values (each asthe salione of pariular dimensions ander tert priming conditions). However, the use of abstract stimuli woul necessit the we of nificiaeaegoriesand hus lengthy leasing periods. Also, visual priming effects were caine in this experiment for bath pictures andthe referents of words. There are no guaantes that the se effets would oben when using highly sbtact simol and arf extepories. This would ‘ccm paul posite in the word condition. The use of highly stuctured sma would necessitate participants Iaming to assoisle absroet non-words with abstract pctares (or instance). It would seem quite posite thatthe associations between the these ‘words’ and these ‘pices! wonkd not be sficienty rong to produce the priming effects obtained ia this caperiment Real tht vine mggesed that vel pining accu inthe word cndton to the strong associations tetween vu features and other features of the referent of the wort soch associations ae astumed to be the result of years of exposure to the objects, It is ueticoable wheter sch sociation cul be otsined with aif tim 1 the implementation cf the model, visual features and nominal semantic features have been epecsntd,Ithas ben assumed that word stimuli may access these composite representations 8Alastair Bins Vinal formation in Caegrizaon strctres, although the mans hy which this process occurs are not explicit. As visual infrmation nd seman festres ae usd in he represen of concepts, soo may fetes related to the Menieton of words berspresented orthographic units, phonolgieal unis, or morphic units for instance. As priming feos de to visual relatedness may be accounted for by the mel, too could semantic priming effec, of combination of visual and semantic priming. Likewise, ‘onologcl pining efits may be sccounted for, in which ase the imiarity between pte and target woud be deteried by the mamber of phonological exes hey share, Functional distinctions tween mels that posit hath stvctal description stem and a conceptual system (Horghieys «sl, 198) and mals shat distinguish visual and concepts! infortion by postulting an intemal srctore to semantic representations (Caramazza, 190) sre problematic. For hit reason, in this model he role of visual an semantic infomation in categorization have been tsuneo pert in paral and no disinction hasbeen mad between woceses involving visu information and those invelvng seman infomation. Partewls ‘europsychological finde” do suggest however, tat its necessary fo matin a disintion tweon: 1. Relationship betwee visual infomation and semantic information, 2. Relionsips betwen features ofa patil typeof knowledge. ‘As this model ues these representation for both input and sored exemplar, and has m0 way of Aisinguishing between visual and semantic information, itis unclear whether tis adequate (0 secount for these finding. Recall that (Humps tal, 1988) had inpated acess o semantic information fom picture stil, and this was patcully evident fr pictures of exemplars from etegris with high egree of within -categey vel silriy. This impirent in activating seman infomation could be secounted for bythe nel if the tention weighs to the semantic dimensions were suitably low. Mdenicaton ad etegsizaion of ptr smal woud than hawt yo vs mensions alone, Exemplar fom categorie with a bigh degree of similarity would thus be far © ps meoned eater, Se, Lsaie aod Walls (1988 fond tit the ptonolog! nant Baween swords cul infieps the catgzaton af thi coresponding pictures na ase / eat tego {coon putiipns wereslower e eiig tht plu of chan sd a pte o pane were fom lore caspase devising tape bed and pit of ple were rom lees. ‘topes These finns could be parinoeonsly acoamed for Py the present exemplar sed pata ose ‘Pefrpheys ta (198 ofthe potion of sractaraldescpion system on he ditionAce Bins Vial oration Categorization ‘to distinguish, whereas hose from categories with a greater umount of disiririty woul be spaced fhe apart inthe visual fare space and would thus be easier to distinguish, However, is would imply that semante information was available, but was just not being attended to, [Nonehcins, relive to tte model, fentional datnction betwen unavailable information and zero atnton weights may nt be necessy. The atnton weights may be iatrpeetod ether as 2 Aegree of stention o the svalbilty of information about particular dimension. Thus, impaired Picts clasiieaon, due to impaired access semantic features Gom visual inpt, may be carcterted by this malel by lowering atenion weights to semantic features, where these lowered weigh conelte with the availabilty of that information. To disingush between sitention and aviability Would entail comiderable adaptation tothe model. Similarity, categorization, the model, and the experiment ‘A indicted in the ntrohcton to this ston, the central role chat non of similarity ply in theories ofcategointion are not unproblematic. Godman (1972) suggests thatthe smirity ‘eween two concepts no simply two way relation, But is ella thee way ration. Concept armt be described ws snl or dissimilar ob in respect oc. Ths, categcies maybe based on Smiley ina ange of rpect, Similarity Beween the pines and the targets inthe experiment and he implementtion ofthe model wee basal on global visual siniaity, apd thas may be stb asbengsimilarin spect o global shape, Inthe concepts literature, a distinction tas commenly been dawn between face and dcp siilrity", As surface siirity implies less processing than deep similarity, and as surface ‘Silty as normally boon assumed (© comet with visual sinilarity, tbe visual sity «form of surface sia. "This implies ‘atte conceptual information parisiats in similarity jadgemens btwecn the eimes and the ‘tween ies in thie experiment may be constved targets Lambets (195) found that given relatively short edie, poopie ed bavi on the percep popeties of exemplars in categorization. In other words, given Iss processing time, people rely on surface sinilarity to a relatively pra extent than doep processing, The short stimulus onset asynchrony used in he experiment rcans tat ile conceptual infomation about Referenced in Ha & Chater (196 "a Chater (1996 tabs to Gente (198Alastair ine Vial oration x Categrition the primes is activated (se Willams, 1996; Nes, 1977). However, activation of visual informations sficient Fr surface sinilcity(o similar to affect categorization, “This being the case, the “act chat the visual sina oF disiiry tetween the rfesens of words fected word categorization would imply tat activation of visual fates from word ‘sill oceurs relatively quickly in prosessing. There was an explicit relationship of vial “snilaritybeovean primes nd ages cay in a smal propotn of Wal (16.6%), thorfore it was ‘unlikely tha this rest was due to conscious integrative stategies (ef, Willams, 1996), [Nonsteles, fit exemphirs (inclaing some ofthe files) were predominantly spherical, and weapons (asin, incading mos of he ill) tended to hve narrow, clongated lob shapes. It is possible, asthe model suggests, that doe to the visual characteristics of the trot catgors, ‘soba shape became pariclarly salient in categorization ofthe simul, Aces to this visual {information from word stil was possibly primed vera numberof ils Categorization and prining [As the notion of concept is based en similarity, and ho notion of siniaity i cena to the ‘sual relationship etwees pines and stimu it may bo weet investigating whether here i any fandaneaua disinction bewen categorization processes and pining processes. Recall that nthe ‘experiment, he visually similar primes wore similar to tages in respect to global shape, Thus, fruit targets and their vinly similar primes are similar due to being instances of spherical ‘jets. As sac they my all be construed as exemplars of a particular category based oo ‘sphoiiy, This being the case, it may have been more appropiate 10 calculate the effect of lssinilar primes on easgorization on & measire of the probability thatthe prime is nor a member of category K, whee K is x extegary consisting of thse exemplars witha periular ‘bal saps This probity coud be dennis in procily the same way’ as probabliis of classification are determired in the standard GCM. However, a8 the effect of prime inhibits ‘subsequent categorization of visually disse tags, the extent t0 which eategorizaton Inhibited sa faction of he probability dais no stegorized as an instanceof vil sie exemplars. A this probability is inversely proportional co the probability that i il be clsfied ‘sa sully sila insan, may be calculated by singly sobrcting tar peobabiity (as given by tho Luce chice us) rom 1. Comparing the predictive power of cis model ative t theAlastair Bing Vat normation x Caegrition liplemented mode! bovemay help aking a principe comparison between the two. However, veto the problems of eostting representations ofthe sin used inthis experiment it would ot be possible to determi if the predictive sapesioriy of one adel over he oer ws i oi factional eganisation cr the paticulr representations used. Again, as suggested above, experimental data involvng highly structured stimuli (amemable to developing principe representational struct) would be neces, General conclusions Past staies which have xldesol the iste of the iffeences buen the extegorizton of Pictures and words have pede contradictory results, thus lading researchers to arive at a ‘numberof diferent conctsons abou the ole of visual information in the categorization proces ‘In paca, the question sto whether he visual sii between the referents of words may fect tie categorization, and the iste of how stilsiy between stimuli may affect ‘categorization are in ned of clarification. "The experimental results suggest that vis simiity ewe the referents of words doer affect ther categorization, Moreover, hey suggest tha hese eects arose as inhibi proceses when exegoritaton of sn exemple wat preceeded by a sully similar rime. The experimental result also sugested that wheres eategoriation of word sinftuencd by the fiir ofthe objects, pct categorization was aot affected by this ‘vatable, This was intepeted as an indication that scent information ws available inthe ictres to differant fait and weapon exemplars, sggesting that Snodgrass deseo tbucweena vital and a conceptual categorization route may be sf cascade processes ae assured to operate batcen diffrent repretenttonal syst in the cogave sytem, impyinganinteraetve atvation of deren types of features, the fnetionaly istingishing visual and ore absruct semantic infosmaton may be problematic, The eet of visa siniarty between the referents of words maybe atbuted to iterative processes between 4 strvetural sytem and 2 conceptual system, in which ease the Visual feature representations xsivated by a visually disiilar prime inhibits the acivation of visual features and semantic ‘eatuesconesponding to «target stil. Aematively, visual information may be assumed to be a componcat of stucued concept representation ofan obj, in whith ase inibitry effets operate within he eancepual system. |Alot ine Vina information n Categorization Due othe problem of fnetionally dierent visual and semantic repesentational features, both types oF itormaton maybe assume to operate in conjunction with cach oer This being the case, objects may be presented as poins ina nonsmadal specific rit dimensional space ‘The distance between a prime and a target in this space may determine the extent 0 which ‘cotegorzatin is affected. This was demonseted wih an extended version of Novis (1996) (Geneaied Context Mode. However, dv to he problem of consucting representations fom the ‘tim used the the experinent, totes the adequacy ofthe model woud equi futher empiical stay. “This stmdy has shown thet vial infusion i activated on presentation of & wor and may inflaence categorization. Khas also suggested how these processes may be understood,