title: Contrastive Constraints Guide Explanation-Based Category Learning.
abstract: This paper provides evidence for a contrastive account of explanation that is motivated by pragmatic theories that recognize the contribution that context makes to the interpretation of a prompt for explanation. This study replicates the primary findings of previous work in explanation-based category learning (Williams & Lombrozo, 2010), extending that work by illustrating the critical role of the context in this type of learning. Participants interacted with items from two categories either by describing the items or explaining their category membership. We manipulated the feature overlap between the categories and examined both the explanations generated and acquired knowledge of the categories. Explanations for membership in a given category were influenced by the unprompted contrast category, indicating an important role for contrastive processing in the generation of explanations. The influence of the contrast category was similarly seen in the transfer performance of the participants.
authors: Department of Psychology, Denison University.
authors: Seth
authors: S
authors: Chin-Parker
authors: Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Tufts University.|U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center.
authors: Julie
authors: J
authors: Cantelon
mesh_terms: D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology; D005793:Generalization, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D014163:Transfer, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Category learning; Context effects; Contrast class; Explanation; Generalization