What is concept formation?
The induction of concepts that divides items into classes according to their shared properties (categorization)
What is the key importance of concept formation?
Allow categorisation of novel stimuli
What is Polymorphous?
Concepts do not have full necessary or sufficient features
What are the 3 types of concepts?
Basic
Superordinate
Abstract
What is basic level concept?
Based on perceptual similarity
What are superordinate concepts?
Groups of basic level concepts not based on perceptual similarity
What are abstract concepts?
Does not refer to individual entity, but to some property, relation or state
How did Bhatt et al (1988) study basic level concept formation?
Pigeons in a chamber with choice of four response keys. Shown pictures of flowers, cars, people and chairs.
-Learned to peck different keys for each of the categories
What did Bhatt et al (1988) find?
Birds can be taught concepts of objects
-However, performance was more accurate in training than with the novel, testing stimuli
What is the Exemplar theory?
Learn about/store every instance independently.
Classify novel exemplars via similarity to learned instances
What is Prototype theory?
Learn about/store abstract prototype corresponding to central tendency of training exemplars.
What does Exemplar theory predict?
Classifying a novel item is always worse than one you have seen before
What does Prototype theory predicts?
Classifying a novel item can be better than one you have seen before
What type of theory do humans follow?
Prototype effect
-Birds use exemplar
What did Aydin & Pearce (1994) find when testing prototype effect in pigeons?
When birds taught positive patterns=food then pecked more there than with negative.
-When tested with prototype, the responded more to pos prototype than any pos/neg patterns
-Evidence for a kind of prototype effect
What did Whittlesea (1987) hypothesise when testing exemplar effect in humans?
If prototype, then should be equally good at categorising all lists as only differ by 2 letters
If exemplar, there should be increasing level if difficulty from list 1-3
What did Whittlesea (1987) find?
Humans show consistent results with exemplar theory
What can actually explain the prototype effect?
Variation of exemplar theory
How can exemplar theory explain the prototype effect?
If to assumes each stimulus comprises a set of component features, that are mostly associated with category membership
What is feature theory?
Each stimulus comprises a set of component features, that are mostly associated with category membership
How do categories form in feature theory?
Association learning
-features of categories are associated with category label
How did Shanks (1990) test blocking of categorisation?
Subjects given trials in which medical symptoms paired with disease diagnosis
-Must predict disease form symptom
What does Nonassociative learning predict in Shanks (1990)?
Given headache, subjects will be just as likely to predict flu as NA
(pairings important)
What does Associative theory suggest about Shanks (1990)?
Given headache, subjects will be more likely to choose rare NA than common flu
(surprise important)
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1) Emotion 120
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2) Emotion 217
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Emotion MCQs24
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3) Sex differences 129
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4) Sex differences 220
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Sex Differences MCQs27
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5) Methods 1 (TMS)24
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6) Methods 2 (EEG + ERPs)40
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Methods MCQs30
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7) Structural and functional MRI32
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8) Neuropsychology with lesion studies30
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fMRI and lesion study MCQs23
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9/10) Alzheimer’s37
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Alzheimer's MCQs19
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11) Neurodegeneration 124
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12) Neurodegeneration 236
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Neurodegeneration MCQs38
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13) SZ 138
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13) SZ 226
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SZ MCQs39
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14) Neurobiology of Decision Making 125
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14) Neurobiology of Decision Making 221
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Neurobiology of Decision Making MCQs34
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15) Anxiety36
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Anxiety MCQs16
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16) Intro to learning24
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16) Classical conditioning24
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Learning 1 MCQs21
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17) Instrumental conditioning26
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17) Numbers and Counting26
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Instrumental condiitoning MCQs15
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Numbers and Counting MCQs20
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18) Associative Learning34
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Associative learning MCQs21
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18) Time33
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Time MCQs21
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19) Classical/instrumental interactions24
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Classical/instrumental MCQs15
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19) Categorisation31
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Categorisation MCQs19
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20) Rescorla-Wagner Model 121
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21) Rescorla-Wagner Model 218
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Rescorla-Wagner MCQs22
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22) Learning and Attention 115
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23) Learning and Attention 212
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Learning and Attention MCQs15
