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Measuring the influence of similarity on category-specific effects
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Shapiro, Laura R., Lamberts, Koen and Olson, Andrew C.. (2008) Measuring the influence of similarity on category-specific effects. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, Vol.20 (No.2). pp. 346-366. ISSN 0954-1446
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09541440601155570
Abstract
There is evidence for both advantages and disadvantages in normal recognition of living over nonliving things. This paradox has been attributed to high levels of perceptual similarity within living categories having a different effect on performance in different contexts. However, since living things are intrinsically more similar to each other, previous studies could not determine whether the various category effects were due to perceptual similarity, or to other characteristics of living things. We used novel animal and vehicle stimuli that were matched for similarity to measure the influence of perceptual similarity in different contexts. We found that displaying highly similar objects in blocked sets reduced their perceived similarity, eliminating the detrimental effect on naming performance. Experiment I demonstrated a disadvantage for highly similar objects in name learning and name verification using mixed groups of similar and dissimilar animals and vehicles. Experiment 2 demonstrated no disadvantage for the same highly similar objects when they were blocked, e.g., similar animals presented alone. Thus, perceptual similarity, rather than other characteristics particular to living things, is affected by context, and could create apparent category effects under certain testing conditions.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science > Psychology |
| Journal or Publication Title: | European Journal of Cognitive Psychology |
| Publisher: | Psychology Press |
| ISSN: | 0954-1446 |
| Date: | March 2008 |
| Volume: | Vol.20 |
| Number: | No.2 |
| Number of Pages: | 21 |
| Page Range: | pp. 346-366 |
| Identification Number: | 10.1080/09541440601155570 |
| Status: | Not Peer Reviewed |
| Publication Status: | Published |
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
| URI: | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/30427 |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
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