Categorization Processes in Mental Comparisons

Five experiments explore categorization and category-based congruity effects in mental comparisons. The first 4 experiments concentrate on categorization of infinite-set small items. The experiments vary the additional items presented and whether those items appear once (Experiments 1-2) or repeated...

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Veröffentlicht in:Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition memory, and cognition, 2001-05, Vol.27 (3), p.800-816
Hauptverfasser: Čech, Claude G, Shoben, Edward J
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Five experiments explore categorization and category-based congruity effects in mental comparisons. The first 4 experiments concentrate on categorization of infinite-set small items. The experiments vary the additional items presented and whether those items appear once (Experiments 1-2) or repeatedly (Experiments 3-4). Additional items include other small items (Experiment 1), relatively large items (Experiments 2-4), and items involving nonsize dimensions (Experiment 4). The critical small items show a complete congruity effect only in Experiments 1 and 3. Results suggest that categorization of infinite-set items may be based on range information alone (Experiment 1) but that multiple categorizations based on multiple ranges (Experiment 2) may require attentional effort. Results implicate categorization as a central process in mental comparison, despite differences in ease of categorization across paradigm.
ISSN:0278-7393
1939-1285
DOI:10.1037/0278-7393.27.3.800