unit 5 Flashcards
what is meant by superordinate, basic, and subordinate levels of categorization?
superordinate: more general
basic: most commonly used, more specific
subordinate: most specific
why is basic level of categorization most commonly used?
basic is most commonly used because it is the most informative and accessible
what is bottom-up processing?
refers to info from the stimulus itself
what is top-down processing?
refers to the influence of prior knowledge, expectations, and surroundings
give an example of the effect of context on object/pattern recognition. how does this correlate to top-down processing?
recognizing a “B” as the number “13” in a sequence demonstrates context, this supports top-down processing as it has to do with prior knowledge and influences interpretation.
what is parts-based approach?
feature analysis (parsing an object into its components parts)
- comparing this set of features to info about the objects structure stored in memory.
what is image-based approach?
objects are recognized holistically, not the parts but the whole
what are geons and how are they used?
features = “geons”- breaking down objects into features (basically building blocks)
*recognition-by-components theory
- helps recognize objects based on parts
image-based research has shown what effect of rotating images or unusual viewpoints/orientations?
image-based studies show recognition difficulty with rotated or unusual views, or image-based recognition relies on viewpoint-specific memories.
what is the face inversion effect
inverting an image is more disrupting for faces compared to other objects.
what is the thatcher illusion?
inverted facial features look strange
are faces encoded as wholes or as parts? provide evidence.
faces are encoded as wholes, not parts. evidence, such as the inversion effect, suggests faces are processed holistically
are houses encoded as wholes or as parts?
both: tanaka & farah study: participants were equally good at recognizing parts and wholes for a house
what is some evidence facial recognition is different from object recognition?
special mechanism view: some patients show intact object recognition without face recognition, and others vice versa
- suggests object recognition and face recognition are different
how does expertise play a role in facial recogniton?
Expertise affects recognition in domains like dog breeds, similar to facial recognition, where familiarity increases recognition ease.
what is prosopagnosia?
disorder in which a person has difficulty recognizing familiar faces
what is the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon?
when we are sure we know a piece of info but we are unable to recall it right now
what is similarity-based theories?
categorization involves judging the similarity between a target object and some standard stored in LTM
what is essentialist theories?
categorization is based on a person general idea/theory regarding the essence of a concept
what is DV?
speed of responding (RT)
- helps reveal how closely linked are the various concepts/features; can model “semantic networks”
what are the three similarity based theories of categorization?
- classical view
- prototype approach
- exemplar approach
explain the main features of the classical view. give an example.
classical view: items classified by features, membership based on defining features, which are necessary and sufficient
ex. bachelor, unmarried, male, adult
what are some problems with the classical view?
fuzzy boundaries
graded structure- not all members of a category are created equal
explain the main features of the prototype approach, give an example.
prototype approach: categories organized around set of characteristic features, quickly and easily accessed from memory.
ex. high family resemblance vs. low family resemblance
what are some problems with the prototype approach?
- peoples sensitivity to intercorrelations among object properties
- context-dependence (what is “most typical” depends on context)
explain the main features of the exemplar approach. give an example.
exemplar approach: no single prototype, many examples
ex. exemplar chosen depends on context
what are some problems with the exemplar approach?
- evidence of abstracted representations
- cognitive economy
what is meant by “graded structure” or “typicality effect”?
Reflects how some category members are more “typical” or central, impacting speed and accuracy in categorization.
what is the essentialist theory?
categorization is based on a persons general idea (or theory) regarding the essence of the category
evidence behind essentialist theories.
similarity judgements and categorization judgements can be independent of one another.
