Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

False prototype enhancement effects in dot pattern categorization.

Safa R Zaki1, Robert M Nosofsky

  • 1Department of Psychology, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts 10267, USA. szaki@williams.edu

Memory & Cognition
|August 3, 2004
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

A psychological-scaling approach to unraveling the nature of Pigeons' categorization of natural visual objects.

Psychological review·2026
Same author

A multidimensional-scaling study of images from diverse everyday-object categories.

Behavior research methods·2026
Same author

Tests of a hybrid-similarity exemplar model of context-dependent memorability in a high-dimensional real-world category domain.

Journal of experimental psychology. General·2025
Same author

High-variability training does not enhance generalization in the prototype-distortion paradigm.

Memory & cognition·2024
Same author

Modeling within-session dynamics of categorical and item-memory mechanisms in pigeons.

Psychonomic bulletin & review·2023
Same author

Testing formal cognitive models of classification and old-new recognition in a real-world high-dimensional category domain.

Cognitive psychology·2023

Prototype enhancement effects in categorization may not stem from learning abstract prototypes. Instead, factors like stimulus properties and presentation frequency during testing appear to influence these effects.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Perception and Cognition

Background:

  • Classic dot pattern distortion paradigms have shown prototype enhancement effects.
  • Exemplar models of categorization have struggled to explain these findings.
  • Previous studies confounded prototype status with stimulus properties and presentation frequency.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the underlying mechanisms of prototype enhancement effects.
  • To determine if prototype enhancement occurs without explicit category learning or structure.
  • To examine the role of stimulus frequency in prototype enhancement.

Main Methods:

  • Two mock-subliminal experiments using categorization judgments on generated patterns (prototypes, low-level distortions, high-level distortions).
  • Two further experiments manipulating the presentation frequency of prototypes and distortions during transfer.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Controlled for objective category structure and explicit training.

    • Main Results:

    • Participants rated prototypes as more likely category members, even without training or objective structure.
    • Prototype enhancement effects were larger when prototypes and low-level distortions were presented more frequently during transfer.
    • Findings suggest frequency and stimulus-specific properties, not just abstract prototype learning, influence enhancement.

    Conclusions:

    • Classic prototype enhancement effects may be influenced by factors beyond the initial abstraction of a prototype.
    • Presentation frequency during testing or transfer plays a significant role.
    • Existing exemplar models may need revision to account for these observed effects.