A unified quantitative approach to modeling subjects ' identification and categorization of multidimensional perceptual stimuli is proposed and tested. Two subjects identified and categorized the same set of perceptually confusable stimuli varying on separable dimensions. The identification data were modeled using Sbepard's (1957) multidimensional scaling-choice framework. This framework was then extended to model the subjects ' categorization performance. The categorization model, which generalizes the context theory of classification developed by Medin and Schaffer (1978), assumes that subjects store category exemplars in memory. Classification decisions are based on the similarity of stimuli to the stored exemplars. It is assumed that the same multidimensional perceptual representation underlies performance in both the identification and Categorization paradigms. However, because of the influence of selective attention, similarity relationships change systematically across the two paradigms. Some support was gained for the hypothesis that subjects distribute attention among component dimensions so as to optimize categorization performance. Evidence was also obtained that subjects may have augmented their category representations with inferred exemplars. Implications of the results for theories of multidimensional scaling and categorization are discussed.

Current input device taxonomies and other frameworks typically emphasize the mechanical structure of input devices. We suggest that selecting an appropriate input device for an interactive task requires looking beyond the physical structure of devices to the deeper perceptual structure of the task, the device, and the interrelationship between the perceptual structure of the task and the control properties of the device. We atllrm that perception is key to understanding performance of multidimensional input devices on multidimensional tasks. We have therefore extended the theory of processing of perceptual structure to graphical interactive tasks and to the control structure of input devices. This allows us to predict task and device combinations that lead to better performance and hypothesize that performance is improved when the perceptual structure of the task matches the control structure of the device. We conducted an experiment in which subjects performed two tasks with different perceptual structures, using two input devices with correspondingly different control structures, a three-dimensional tracker and a mouse. We analyzed both speed and accuracy, as well as the trajectories generated by subjects as they used the unconstrained three-dimensional tracker to perform each task. The results support our hypothesis and confirm the importance of matching the perceptual structure of the task and the control structure of the input device. Categories and Subject Descriptors: H.1.2 [Models and Principles]: User/Machine

this article should be addressed to Robert Goldstone, Psychology Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405. Electronic mail may be sent to rgoldsto @ ucs.indiana.edu

Previously published sets of classification and old-new recognition memory data are reanalyzed within the framework of an exemplar-based generalization model. The key assumption in the model is that, whereas classification decisions are based on the similarity of a probe to exemplars of a target category relative to exemplars of contrast categories, recognition decisions are based on overall summed similarity of a probe to all exemplars. The summed-similarity decision rule is shown to be consistent with a wide variety of recognition memory data obtained in classification learning situations and may provide a unified approach to understanding relations between categorization and recognition. Recently, there has been an upsurge of interest among categorization researchers in exploring relations between classification learning and old-new recognition memory. This interest has been fueled by the exemplar view of category representation, which holds that people base classification decisions on similarity comparisons with stored exemplars (Hintzman, 1986b; Medin & Schaffer, 1978; Nosofsky, 1986).

The authors propose and test an exemplar-based random walk model for predicting response times in tasks of speeded, multidimensional perceptual classification. The model combines elements of R.M. Nosofsky's (1986) generalized context model of categorization and G. D. Logan's (1988) instance-based model of automaticity. In the model, exemplars race among one another to be retrieved from memory, with rates determined by their similarity to test items. The retrieved exemplars provide incremental information that enters into a random walk process for making classification decisions. The model predicts correctly effects of within- and between-categories similarity, individual-object familiarity, and extended practice on classification response times. It also builds bridges between the domains of categorization and automaticity. Models of multidimensional perceptual classification have grown increasingly powerful and sophisticated in recent years, providing detailed quantitative accounts of patterns of classifi-cation learning, transfer, and generalization (e.g., Anderson,

The relationship between subjects ' identification and categorization learning of integral-dimension stimuli was studied within the framework of an exemplar-based generalization model. The model was used to predict subjects ' learning in six different categorization conditions on the basis of data obtained in a single identification learning condition. A crucial assumption in the model is that because of selective attention to component dimensions, similarity relations may change in systematic ways across different experimental contexts. The theoretical analysis provided evidence that, at least under unspeeded conditions, selective attention may play a critical role in determining the identification-categorization relationship for integral stimuli. Evidence was also provided that similarity among exemplars decreased as a function of identification learning. Various alternative classification models, including prototype, multiple-prototype, average distance, and "value-on-dimensions" models, were unable to account for the results. This article seeks to characterize performance relations between the two fundamental classification paradigms of identification and categorization. Whereas in an identification paradigm people identify stimuli as unique items (a one-to-one

Subjects learned to classify perceptual stimuli varying along continuous, separable dimensions into rule-described categories. The categories were designed to contrast the predictions of a selective-attention exemplar model and a simple rule-based model formalizing an economy-ofdescription view. Converging evidence about categorization strategies was obtained by also collecting identification and recognition data and by manipulating strategies via instructions. In free-strategy conditions, the exemplar model generally provided an accurate quantitative account of identification, categorization, and recognition performance, and it allowed for the interrelationship of these paradigms within a unified framework. Analyses of individual subject data also provided some evidence for the use of rules, but in general, the rules seemed to have a great deal in common with exemplar storage processes. Classification and recognition performance for subjects given explicit instructions to use specific rules contrasted dramatically with performance in the free-strategy conditions and could not be predicted by the exemplar model. Markedly different theoretical approaches have been applied to account for the learning and representation of welldefined categories structured according to simple rules and more natural, ill-defined categories (Rosch, 1973; E. E. Smith & Medin, 1981). In the case of well-defined categories, it is generally assumed that people formulate and test hypotheses concerning the "rules " that determine category membership

Two connectionist models of attention in associative learning, previously used to model human category learning, are shown to have special cases that are essentially equivalent to N. J. Mackintosh's (1975, Psychological Review, 82, 276 298) classic model of attention in animal learning. The models unify formulas for associative weight change with formulas for attentional change, under a common goal of error reduction. Error-driven attentional shifting accelerates learning of new associations but also protects previously learned associations from retroactive interference. The models are fit to data from a recent experiment in human associative learning (J. K. Kruschke 6 N. J. Blair, 2000, Psychonomic Bulletin 6 Review, 7, 636 645), which shows that blocking of learning involves learned inattention. The approach also provides a novel and unifying theory of latent inhibition (the preexposure effect) in terms of blocking. The discussion summarizes how the approach accounts for a variety of other ``irrational' ' phenomena in associative learning, including base rate effects, perseveration of attention through relevance

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In this article, the relation between the identification, similarity judgment, and categorization of multidimensional perceptual stimuli is studied. The theoretical analysis focused on general recognition theory (GRT), which is a multidimensional generalization of signal detection theory. In one application, 2 Ss first identified a set of confusable stimuli and then made judgments of their pairwise similarity. The second application was to Nosofsky's (1985b, 1986) identificationcategorization experiment. In both applications, a GRT model accounted for the identification data better than Luce's (1963) biased-cboice model. The identification results were then used to predict performance in the similarity judgment and categorization conditions. The GRT identification model accurately predicted the similarity judgments under the assumption that Ks allocated attention to the 2 stimulus dimensions differently in the 2 tasks. The categorization data were predicted successfully without appealing to the notion of selective attention. Instead, a simpler GRT model that emphasized the different decision rules used in identification and categorization was adequate. The perceptual processes involved when subjects identify, categorize, or judge the pairwise similarity of multidimensional perceptual stimuli are closely related (e.g., Ashby &