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Representation of numerical information: Exploration of the category structure of distributions of numerical stimuli
Abstract
A series of experiments explored the nature of the memory representation of numerical information. Two distributions were presented to each subject as three-digit numbers paired with distribution labels. Three stimulus presentation conditions were used in Experiment 1: a rapid serial presentation as used in Malmi and Samson (1983); a task which requires the subject to retype each stimulus item; and a classification task in which the subject must supply the category name when presented with the stimulus number. In Experiment 1, subjects estimated the averages of the distributions they were presented. In Experiment 2, subjects classified an additional 40 items, chosen to enable discrimination between two classes of models of memory representation. Subjects in Experiment 3 made estimates of the frequency of scores per decade for each distribution. The results strongly favor the category density model (Fried and Holyoak, 1984), a model which assumes that the subject abstracts distributional information and uses a default 'normal' distribution to organize the incoming information. The Nosofsky (1988) exemplar similarity model did not predict subject classification behavior or subject frequency estimation as accurately as the category density model. Reasons for these findings are discussed.
Subject Area
Experimental psychology|Psychology
Recommended Citation
Stone, Robert Kevin, "Representation of numerical information: Exploration of the category structure of distributions of numerical stimuli" (1992). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9219505.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9219505