title: Cognitive load privileges memory-based over data-driven processing, not group-level over person-level processing.
abstract: In the current paper, we argue that categorization and individuation, as traditionally discussed and as experimentally operationalized, are defined in terms of two confounded underlying dimensions: a person/group dimension and a memory-based/data-driven dimension. In a series of three experiments, we unconfound these dimensions and impose a cognitive load. Across the three experiments, two with laboratory-created targets and one with participants' friends as the target, we demonstrate that cognitive load privileges memory-based over data-driven processing, not group- over person-level processing. We discuss the results in terms of their implications for conceptualizations of the categorization/individuation distinction, for the equivalence of person and group processes, for the ultimate 'purpose' and meaningfulness of group-based perception and, fundamentally, for the process of categorization, broadly defined.
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Psychological Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
authors.forename: Daniel P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Skorich
authors.forename: Kenneth I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Mavor
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011593:Psychology, Social; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult