Exemplar representation without generalization? Comment on Smith and Minda's (2000) "Thirty categorization results in search of a model".
J. D. Smith and J. P. Minda (2000) conducted a meta-analysis of 30 data sets reported in the classification literature that involved use of the "5-4" category structure introduced by D. L. Medin and M. M. Schaffer (1978). The meta-analysis was aimed at investigating exemplar and elaborated prototype models of categorization. In this commentary, the author argues that the meta-analysis is misleading because it includes many data sets from experimental designs that are inappropriate for distinguishing the models. Often, the designs involved manipulations in which the actual 5-4 structure was not, in reality, tested, voiding the predictions of the models. The commentary also clarifies various aspects of the workings of the exemplar-based context model. Finally, concerns are raised that the all-or-none exemplar processes that form part of Smith and Minda's (2000) elaborated prototype models are implausible and lacking in generality.
Nosofsky
R M
RM
Indiana University Bloomington, USA. nosofsky@indiana.edu
D006801:Humans; D008606:Mental Processes; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design