Feedback can be superior to observational training for both rule-based and information-integration category structures

Edmunds, C.E.R ORCID: 0000-0002-0524-8756, Milton, F and Wills, A.J (2015) 'Feedback can be superior to observational training for both rule-based and information-integration category structures.' Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 68 (6). pp. 1203-1222.

Abstract

The effects of two different types of training on rule-based and information-integration category learning were investigated in two experiments. In observational training, a category label is presented, followed by an example of that category and the participant's response. In feedback training, the stimulus is presented, and the participant assigns it to a category and then receives feedback about the accuracy of that decision. Ashby, Maddox, and Bohil (2002. Observational versus feedback training in rule-based and information-integration category learning. Memory & Cognition, 30, 666–677) reported that feedback training was superior to observational training when learning information-integration category structures, but that training type had little effect on the acquisition of rule-based category structures. These results were argued to support the COVIS (competition between verbal and implicit systems) dual-process account of category learning. However, a number of nonessential differences between their rule-based and information-integration conditions complicate interpretation of these findings. Experiment 1 controlled between-category structures for participant error rates, category separation, and the number of stimulus dimensions relevant to the categorization. Under these more controlled conditions, rule-based and information-integration category structures both benefited from feedback training to a similar degree. Experiment 2 maintained this difference in training type when learning a rule-based category that had otherwise been matched, in terms of category overlap and overall performance, with the rule-based categories used in Ashby et al. These results indicate that differences in dimensionality between the category structures in Ashby et al. is a more likely explanation for the interaction between training type and category structure than the dual-system explanation that they offered.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	competition between verbal and implicit systems, COVIS, categorization, implicit, explicit, feedback
Divisions:	School of Sciences
Date Deposited:	17 Oct 2022 13:09
Last Modified:	04 Aug 2023 05:30
ISSN:	1747-0218
URI / Page ID:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/15025

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