TY - JOUR
T1 - Prototypes and particulars
T2 - Geometric and experience-dependent spatial categories
AU - Spencer, John P.
AU - Hund, Alycia M.
PY - 2002/3
Y1 - 2002/3
N2 - People use geometric cues to form spatial categories. This study investigated whether people also use the spatial distribution of exemplars. Adults pointed to remembered locations on a tabletop. In Experiment 1, a target was placed in each geometric category, and the location of targets was varied. Adults' responses were biased away from a midline category boundary toward geometric prototypes located at the centers of left and right categories. Experiment 2 showed that prototype effects were not influenced by cross-category interactions. In Experiment 3, subsets of targets were positioned at different locations within each category. When prototype effects were removed, there was a bias toward the center of the exemplar distribution, suggesting that common categorization processes operate across spatial and object domains.
AB - People use geometric cues to form spatial categories. This study investigated whether people also use the spatial distribution of exemplars. Adults pointed to remembered locations on a tabletop. In Experiment 1, a target was placed in each geometric category, and the location of targets was varied. Adults' responses were biased away from a midline category boundary toward geometric prototypes located at the centers of left and right categories. Experiment 2 showed that prototype effects were not influenced by cross-category interactions. In Experiment 3, subsets of targets were positioned at different locations within each category. When prototype effects were removed, there was a bias toward the center of the exemplar distribution, suggesting that common categorization processes operate across spatial and object domains.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036515478&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/0096-3445.131.1.16
DO - 10.1037/0096-3445.131.1.16
M3 - Article
C2 - 11900101
AN - SCOPUS:85047673674
SN - 0096-3445
VL - 131
SP - 16
EP - 37
JO - Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
JF - Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
IS - 1
ER -