Numerous studies have found that selective attention affects category learning. However, previous research did not distinguish between the contribution of focusing and filtering components of selective attention. This study addresses this issue by examining how components of selective attention affect category representation. Participants first…

In describing how people generalize from observed samples of data to novel cases, theories of inductive inference have emphasized the learner's reliance on the contents of the sample. More recently, a growing body of literature suggests that different assumptions about how a data sample was generated can lead the learner to draw qualitatively…

Linguistic categories can impact visual perception. For instance, learning that two objects have different names can enhance their discriminability. Previous studies have identified a typical pattern of categorical perception, characterized by faster discrimination of stimuli from different categories, a neural mismatch response during early…

Research on the accuracy of Brain Fingerprinting (BFP) has produced mixed outcomes: some report 99.9% and others report lower. Furthermore, no studies have measured the susceptibility of BFP to countermeasures. In Experiment-1, we report the accurate classification of 15 of the 16 subjects, tested on their own real-life autobiographical incidents;…

The Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) suggests humans learn through visual and auditory sensory channels. Haptics represent a third channel within CTML and a missing component for experiential learning. The objective was to measure visual and haptic behaviors during spatial tasks. The haptic abilities test (HAT) quantifies results in…

In a range of settings, human operators make decisions with the assistance of automation, the reliability of which can vary depending upon context. Currently, the processes by which humans track the level of reliability of automation are unclear. In the current study, we test cognitive models of learning that could potentially explain how humans…

A major question for the study of learning and memory is how to tailor learning experiences to promote knowledge that generalizes to new situations. In two experiments, we used category learning as a representative domain to test two factors thought to influence the acquisition of conceptual knowledge: the number of training examples (set size)…

A classic issue in the cognitive psychology of human category learning has involved the contrast between exemplar and prototype models. However, experimental tests to distinguish the models have relied almost solely on use of artificially-constructed categories composed of simplified stimuli. Here we contrast the predictions from the models in a…

Echocardiographers can detect abnormalities accurately and rapidly from dynamic images. This is likely due to the application of cue-based associations resident in memory, a process known as cue utilization. This study investigated whether cue utilization is associated with the ability to apply within-domain capabilities (dynamic) to more degraded…

Despite much research, the role of the medial temporal lobes (MTL) in category learning is unclear. Two unstructured categorization experiments explored conditions that might recruit MTL category learning and memory systems--namely, whether the stimulus display includes one or two stimuli, and whether category membership depends on configural…

Adults with Down syndrome (DS) experience high risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD), but there is variability in the timing of transition from a cognitively stable state to prodromal AD and dementia. The present study examined the association between a modifiable lifestyle factor, employment complexity, and cognitive decline across two time points in…

Despite receiving scant attention, the evolution of categorization in early childhood is of central importance, not only in clarifying the child's understanding of the world but in terms of refining cognitive organization and augmenting the development of semantic memory. In this review, we outline how categorization develops and is made manifest…

It is important to consider the two parameters of signal detection theory, discriminability and response bias, when evaluating eyewitness identification from simultaneous lineups. On the basis of the diagnostic feature-detection hypothesis, we tested a method for increasing discriminability that encourages eyewitnesses to carefully rank each…

Learners' acquisition of pragmatic competence in additional languages has received mounting attention since the 1990s. However, although studies on general learning strategies have proliferated since Oxford's (1990) influential inventory was published, studies on pragmatic-specific learning strategies contributing to the acquisition of this…

Recent context-control learning studies have shown that switch costs are reduced in a particular context predicting a high probability of switching as compared to another context predicting a low probability of switching. These context-specific switch probability effects suggest that control of task sets, through experience, can become associated…