Classification versus inference learning contrasted with real-world categories.
Categories are learned and used in a variety of ways, but the research focus has been on classification learning. Recent work contrasting classification with inference learning of categories found important later differences in category performance. However, theoretical accounts differ on whether this is due to an inherent difference between the tasks or to the implementation decisions. The inherent-difference explanation argues that inference learners focus on the internal structure of the categories--what each category is like--while classification learners focus on diagnostic information to predict category membership. In two experiments, using real-world categories and controlling for earlier methodological differences, inference learners learned more about what each category was like than did classification learners, as evidenced by higher performance on a novel classification test. These results suggest that there is an inherent difference between learning new categories by classifying an item versus inferring a feature.
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, 603 E. Daniel St., Champaign, IL 61820, USA. eljones3@illinois.edu
Erin L
EL
Jones
Brian H
BH
Ross
D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D003210:Concept Formation; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006801:Humans; D011939:Mental Recall; D046109:Passeriformes / Q000145:classification*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012660:Semantics; D014706:Verbal Learning
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2001 Sep;27(5):1261-75
11550753
Psychol Rev. 1992 Jan;99(1):22-44
1546117
Cogn Psychol. 2005 Aug;51(1):1-41
16039934
Mem Cognit. 2002 Apr;30(3):353-62
12061756
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2004 Jan;30(1):216-26
14736308
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2005 Jan;31(1):86-99
15641907
Cognition. 1986 Aug;23(3):183-209
3791915
Psychol Bull. 2003 Jul;129(4):592-613
12848222
J Exp Psychol Appl. 2010 Dec;16(4):361-77
21198253
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2005 Nov;31(6):1433-58
16393056
Mem Cognit. 2002 Jan;30(1):119-28
11958345
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 1984 Jan;10(1):104-14
6242730