Perceptual and Cognitive Processes in Identification and Categorization

本研究将研究知觉和认知过程 参与识别和分类的视觉 在两个或多个物理维度上变化的刺激。 研究 是由决策约束理论驱动的，该理论假设 在与重复相关的感知信息的变化 每个物体或事件的描述。 该理论假设， 从任何一个呈现获得的感知信息可以 由沿着每个的一组坐标值沿着描述 相关的感知维度。 当学习识别 不熟悉的物体或事件或学习新的类别时， 假设人类构建决策边界， 将感知空间划分为区域。 每个区域都与 对象或事件名称或类别名称。 当一个新 当遇到对象时，该人确定在哪个区域中 然后通过以下方式对物体进行识别或分类 与该区域相关的名称。 这项研究将包括四个项目。 第一个将 在视觉上测量可用信息的分布- 呈现刺激沿着实验者定义的刺激 尺寸. 第二个将测试可能的相互作用， 视觉皮层中不同的功能单位 当被并入 决策约束理论，这两个项目的结果可能 被用来构造识别或分类视觉的机器， 刺激物，以及人类。 第三个项目将研究如何 人类通过关注一些可供选择的事物来学习分类， 描述如何学习类别边界。 最终 该项目将研究人类进行分类所需的时间 判断。 特别是，该项目将试图阐明 反应时间和刺激位置之间的关系 在感知空间中的表现，特别是在其 与对比类别的范例的关系。 这 知识将增加我们对孩子如何学习的理解 读取并命名环境中的对象。

This research will study the perceptual and cognitive processes involved in the identification and categorization of sets of visual stimuli that vary on two or more physical dimensions. The research is motivated by decision-bound theory, which assumes there is variability in the perceptual information associated with repeated presentations of every object or event. The theory assumes that the perceptual information obtained from any one presentation can be described by a set of coordinate values along each of the relevant perceptual dimensions. When learning to identify unfamiliar objects or events or when learning new categories, humans are assumed to construct decision boundaries that partition the perceptual space into regions. Each region is associated with an object or event name or with the name of a category. When a new object is encountered, the person determines in which region the percept has fallen and then identifies or categorizes the object by the name associated with that region. This research will consist of four projects. The first will measure the distribution of information available in a visually- presented stimulus along the experimenter-defined stimulus dimensions. The second will test for possible interactions between different functional units in the visual cortex. When incorporated into decision-bound theory, the results of these two projects might be used to construct machines that identify or categorize visual stimuli as well as do humans. The third project will study how humans learn categories, by focusing on a number of alternative descriptions of how category boundaries are learned. The final project will study the time it takes humans to make categorization judgments. In particular, the project will try to elucidate the relation between response time and the positioning of the stimulus representation in perceptual space and, specifically, on its relation to the exemplars of contrasting categories. This knowledge will increase our understanding of how children learn to read and name objects in their environment.