Interaction Between Equivalence and Categorization in the Recognition of Paintings

Categorization and the emergence of symbolic relations are two processes that together play an important role in cognition and language. However, few experimental studies have directly tested the possibility of teaching representational relations with complex symbols, such as paintings. To test this possibility, the present study investigated the establishment of emergent conditional relations between categories of paintings and the names of their authors. Paintings by Gauguin, Botticelli, and Monet were used in Experiment 1, whereas paintings by Picasso, Botticelli, and Monet were used in Experiment 2. The procedure in both experiments began by training relations between each of ten paintings by a certain painter and an abstract picture, for each of three painters. This was followed by training including paintings of all three painters. Next, relations between each of the three abstract figures and the printed name of one of the painters were trained. After the training, tests of relations between five trained and five untrained paintings of each artist and the printed names were conducted. The results showed the emergence of relations between the trained stimuli and the names of the painters that were mediated by the abstract stimulus, as well as superior outcomes with the paintings by Picasso in Experiment 2. Another important result was the great accuracy of the participants’ performance in relating the untrained stimuli with the names of the painters. Taken together, these results suggest that artificial categories, such as paintings can be used successfully in experimental studies on the emergence of symbolic relations.