Signal detection theory forms the core of many current models of cognition, including memory, choice, and categorization. However, the classic signal detection model presumes the a priori existence of fixed stimulus representations--usually Gaussian distributions--even when the observer has no experience with the task. Furthermore, the classic…

S. W. Allen and L. R. Brooks (1991) have shown that exemplar memory can affect categorization even when participants are provided with a classification rule. G. Regehr and L. R. Brooks (1993) argued that stimuli must be individuated for such effects to occur. In this study, the authors further analyze the conditions that yield exemplar effects in…

Investigated whether young children (ages 2-5) could use spatial categorization as a mnemonic strategy. Three experiments found the children capable of spatially organizing objects as a strategy in the service of future retrieval. There were clear developmental trends in the deployment of categorization. (SKC)

Examines psychological studies on memory and learning for what they reveal about human categorizing processes and the organizing principles and limitations of human memory. Findings suggest considerations for the design of information systems that would take conceptual organization of knowledge into account. (FM)

Forty participants assigned artificial creatures to categories after explicit rule instruction or feedback alone. Stimuli were typical and atypical exemplars of 2 categories with independent prototypes, conflicting exemplars sharing features of both categories, and "Others" with only 1 or 2 features of the well-defined categories. Ten…

Properties of categories were investigated by analyzing 22 measures of the 56 categories used in the 1969 Battig and Montague norms. A factor analysis of the data indicated that categories in semantic memory possess at least four factors (category familiarity, category size, category-label printed frequency, semantic complexity) that may affect…

To what extent does prior knowledge of a superordinate category facilitate recognition of an instance of that category? The results of this study reveal that the facilitating effect of a category prime on perceptual processing is inversely related to the quality of the stimulus information available. (Author/RK)

The salience of encoding attributes in instances of differing levels of category membership was examined using the release from proactive interference (PI) task with college students. Results are discussed in terms of providing converging evidence for Rosch's (1973,1975) theory of semantic category structure. (Editor/RK)

Two experiments demonstrate that individuals are limited in the number of unrelated words they can apprehend and assign to a particular semantic dimension and also that retrieval from long-term memory is subject to the same kind of limitation. (Author/RK)

These experiments seek evidence for the existence, the operation, and the extent of influence of one type of code--a verbal, linguistic, semantic, name code--on memory. As well, they bring a new stimulus dimension, color, to this kind of test in a manner that would allow identification of individual variation in the use of different verbal labels…

Subjects learned 24 words from two categories to either a lenient or a stringent criterion and were then tested in an identification task. (Editor)

The latency to classify a test item as not being from a memorized list of category words is usually slower when the test items are categorically related to memorized words than when they are unrelated. This observation has been explained by four models of recognition, which are evaluated here. (Editor/RK)

Four experiments were conducted where words were recalled after presentation either in hierarchical fashion or in a matrix. The intention was to examine whether the original advantage for hierarchical retrieval systems could be duplicated for matrix systems, and if there was any particular advantage or disadvantage for either type of structure.…

In this study, children's ability to educe information which was not present in individual sentences was measured. (Editor)

A list of 25 nouns containing five sets of five words beginning with a different initial letter was presented for five learning trials. Categorized lists were recalled better than uncategorized; free recall was better than cued. (Author/KM)