34 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
On putting milk in coffee: The effect of thematic relations on similarity judgments.
Ail existing accounts of similarity assume that it is a function of matching and mismatching attributes between mental representations. However, Bassok and Medin (19%) found that the judged similarity of sentences does not necessarily reflect the degree of overlap between the properties of paired stimuli. Rather, similarity judgments are often mediated by a process of thematic integration and reflect the degree to which stimuli can be integrated into a common thematic scenario. We present results of a study which extend this surprising flnding by showing that it also applies to similarity ratings of objects and occurs whether or not subjects explain their judgments. Also, consistent with the Bassok and Medin findings, the tendency towards thematic integration was more pronounced when the paired stimulus shared few attributes--but was still an important factor in similarity judgments between objects which shared many attributes. We discuss the implications of these findings for models of cognitive processes which use similarity as an explanatory construct
Recommended from our members
Structural and Thematic Alignments in Similarity Judgments
e examined similarity judgments between simple Noun-Verb?Noun statements that were matched either in their verbs or nouns (separate matches) and made either analogous or non?analogous assertions (combined matches). An analysis of written justifications that accompanied subjects' similarity judgments revealed that matching verbs and matching nouns lead to two qualitatively different types of alignments. Matching verbs (e.g., "The carpenter fixed the chair" and "The plumber fixed the radio") led subjects to construct structural alignments and evaluate the quality of the resulting analogies (e.g., "Not analogous because plumbers don't fix radios as part of their job"). By contrast, and contrary to any traditional account of similarity as a process of comparison, matching nouns (e.g., "The carpenter fixed the chair" and "The carpenter sat on the chair") led subjects to construct thematic ahgnments and evaluate similarity based on the plausibility of the resulting causal or temporal scenarios (e.g., "He sat on the chair to see whether he fixed it well")
Recommended from our members
Conceptual Integration in Arithmetic is the Same for Digits and Words: It's the Meaning, Stupid!
Recommended from our members
When Two Plus Two Does Not Equal Four: Event-Related Potential Responses to Semantically Incongrous Arithmetic Word Problems
Recommended from our members
Analogical Reasoning with Rational Numbers: Semantic Alignment Based on Discrete Versus Continuous Quantities
Recommended from our members
Modeling Relational Priming and Multiplicative Reasoning with Rational Numbers
Previous research on multiplicative reasoning has shown that
for whole numbers, understanding of division is intimately
linked to multiplication, as retrieval of division facts is often
accomplished through reverse multiplication. We recently
extended this research to rational numbers, and found that
inverse multiplication problems can serve as primes for one
another (e.g., a √ó b/a = a primes b √ó a/b = b) when the
second multiplier is expressed as a fraction, but not when it is
expressed as a decimal. In the current paper we propose a
process model of how such relational priming takes place, and
report two experiments that test the limits of this priming
effect. The first varies the format of the equations as fractions
or a total division equation, and shows that priming is only
observed using the fraction format; the second varies the
multiplicative complexity of the factors in the equations, and
shows that priming requires a common factor linking the
successive problems