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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Creating Objects and Object Categories for Studying Perception and Perceptual Learning
Published on: November 2, 2012
Cognitive complexity effects in perceptual classification are dissociable
W Todd Maddox1, J Scott Lauritzen, A David Ing
1Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, USA. maddox@psy.utexas.edu
Abstract:
It has been proposed that a procedural-based classification system mediates the learning of information-integration categories, whereas a hypothesis-testing system mediates the learning of rule-based categories. Ashby, Ell and Waldron (2003) provided support for this claim by showing that a button switch introduced during classification transfer adversely affected information-integration but not rule-based performance. Nosofsky, Stanton and Zaki (2005) showed that increasing "cognitive complexity" can lead to button switch costs on rule-based performance. They argue that "cognitive complexity," and not the existence of separable classification systems, accounts for Ashby et al.'s empirical dissociation. The present study shows that experimental manipulations that increase "cognitive complexity" often have dissociable effects on information-integration and rule-based classification that are predicted a priori from the processing characteristics associated with the procedural-based and hypothesis-testing systems. These results suggest that manipulations of "cognitive complexity" can be dissociated, suggesting that "cognitive complexity" in not a unitary construct that affects a single psychological process.
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