Perceptual and Cognitive Processes in Identification and Categorization

本研究将探讨用于识别和分类复杂知觉刺激的知觉和认知过程。该研究计划将开发和测试一种新的理论，该理论假设类别学习是两个独立的分类系统之间的竞争。一个系统使用可以用语言描述的规则，并且可以进入意识（即言语系统），而另一个系统可以学习无法用语言描述的规则（即内隐系统）。这个理论将从三个不同的层面来描述。神经心理学的版本将提供主要的大脑区域和神经通路的详细描述，这些区域和神经通路由独立的系统使用，并调解系统之间的竞争。此外，还将对该理论进行两种单独的数学描述。一种是对理论预测的人们在学习新类别时应该发生的动态行为进行全局描述。另一个将提供更详细的描述，可用于预测一次又一次的类别学习行为。将进行许多实验来验证该理论的新预测。除了对正常成年人的类别学习做出预测外，该理论还对儿童、老年人、患有严重抑郁症和基底神经节疾病（如帕金森病和亨廷顿病）的患者以及非人类动物做出了具体的预测。这项研究将提高我们对最基本和最重要的认知过程之一的理解，即分类。它也有可能增加我们对几种主要疾病和障碍的认知影响的理解，以及认知如何受到正常衰老过程的影响。这个项目将结合大量的实验和理论研究，这些研究很大程度上依赖于数学建模技术和神经科学的最新发现。＊＊＊

9514427 ASHBY This research will investigate the perceptual and cognitive processes used in the identification and categorization of complex perceptual stimuli. The research program will develop and test a new theory that assumes category learning is a competition between two separate categorization systems. One system uses rules that can be described verbally and has access to consciousness (i.e., the verbal system), whereas the other can learn rules that are impossible to describe verbally (i.e., the implicit system). The theory will be described at three different levels. A neuropsychological version will provide a detailed description of the major brain areas and neural pathways used by the separate systems and that mediate the competition between the systems. In addition, two separate mathematical descriptions of the theory will be developed. One will provide a global level description of the dynamical behavior that the theory predicts should occur when people learn new categories. The other will provide a more detailed description that can be used to predict trial-by-trial category learning behavior. Many experiments will be conducted to test novel predictions of the theory. In addition to making predictions about category learning in normal human adults, the theory also makes specific predictions for children, the elderly, patients suffering from major depression and from diseases of the basal ganglia (e.g., Parkinson's and Huntington's disease), and for nonhuman animals. This research will improve our understanding of one of the most basic and important of cognitive processes, namely categorization. It also has the potential to increase our understanding of the cognitive effects of several major diseases and disorders, and of how cognition is affected by normal aging processes. This project will combine extensive experimentation with theoretical investigations that rely heavily on mathematical modeling techniques and recent discoveries in th e neurosciences. ***