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Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments
Published on: January 23, 2017
[A test of the focusing hypothesis for category judgment: an explanation using the mental-box model]
Tsuyoshi Hatori1, Kazuhisa Takemura, Satoshi Fujii
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Ehime University, Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama 790-8577, Japan. hatori@cee.ehime-u.ac.jp
Abstract:
This paper presents a new model of category judgment. The model hypothesizes that, when more attention is focused on a category, the psychological range of the category gets narrower (category-focusing hypothesis). We explain this hypothesis by using the metaphor of a "mental-box" model: the more attention that is focused on a mental box (i.e., a category set), the smaller the size of the box becomes (i.e., a cardinal number of the category set). The hypothesis was tested in an experiment (N = 40), where the focus of attention on prescribed verbal categories was manipulated. The obtained data gave support to the hypothesis: category-focusing effects were found in three experimental tasks (regarding the category of "food", "height", and "income"). The validity of the hypothesis was discussed based on the results.
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