title: Two pathways to stimulus encoding in category learning?
abstract: Category learning theorists tacitly assume that stimuli are encoded by a single pathway. Motivated by theories of object recognition, we evaluated a dual-pathway account of stimulus encoding. The part-based pathway establishes mappings between sensory input and symbols that encode discrete stimulus features, whereas the image-based pathway applies holistic templates to sensory input. Our experiments used rule-plus-exception structures, in which one exception item in each category violates a salient regularity and must be distinguished from other items. In Experiment 1, we found discrete representations to be crucial for recognition of exceptions following brief training. Experiments 2 and 3 involved multisession training regimens designed to encourage either part- or image-based encoding. We found that both pathways are able to support exception encoding, but have unique characteristics. We speculate that one advantage of the part-based pathway is the ability to generalize across domains, whereas the image-based pathway provides faster and more effortless recognition.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, USA. thdavis@mail.utexas.edu
authors.forename: Tyler
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Bradley C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Love
authors.forename: W Todd
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Maddox
mesh_terms: D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D003210:Concept Formation; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D005795:Generalization, Stimulus; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011930:Reaction Time; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012858:Size Perception