| | |
Summary: Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2005. 56:14978
doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070217
Copyright c 2005 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
First published online as a Review in Advance on September 2, 2004
HUMAN CATEGORY LEARNING
F. Gregory Ashby
Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara,
California 93106; email: ashby@psych.ucsb.edu
W. Todd Maddox
Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712;
email: maddox@psyvax.psy.utexas.edu
Key Words exemplar, prototype, decision bound, multiple systems, striatum
Abstract Much recent evidence suggests some dramatic differences in the way
people learn perceptual categories, depending on exactly how the categories were con-
structed. Four different kinds of category-learning tasks are currently popular--rule-
based tasks, information-integration tasks, prototype distortion tasks, and the weather
prediction task. The cognitive, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging results obtained
using these four tasks are qualitatively different. Success in rule-based (explicit rea-
soning) tasks depends on frontal-striatal circuits and requires working memory and
executive attention. Success in information-integration tasks requires a form of proce-
|
