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Updated: Jun 3, 2026
08:12
A Psychophysics Paradigm for the Collection and Analysis of Similarity Judgments
Published on: March 1, 2022
Category rating is based on prototypes and not instances: evidence from feedback-dependent context effects
1Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. apetrov@alexpetrov.com
Summary
Category rating context effects depend on feedback, showing both assimilation and compensation. Human data align with unitary representations, supporting models like ANCHOR over INST.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psychophysics
Background:
- Context effects significantly influence category rating scales.
- Understanding these effects is crucial for modeling human judgment and decision-making.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how feedback influences context effects in category rating.
- To differentiate between prototype- and exemplar-based scaling theories using computational models.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments manipulated context (stimulus frequencies) between subjects and feedback within subjects.
- Tested predictions of ANCHOR (prototype-based) and INST (exemplar-based) models against human data.
Main Results:
- A significant interaction between context and feedback was observed in human ratings.
- Context effects were assimilative in one dataset and compensatory in another.
- The ANCHOR model explained these findings, while the INST model did not.
Conclusions:
- Human category rating appears to be based on unitary representations.
- Findings support prototype-based models capable of exhibiting both assimilative and compensatory effects, like ANCHOR.
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