Models of Categorization Andy

Andy J. Wills Abstract This chapter reviews some of the main ways in which theories of categorization have been expressed in formal, mathematical terms. The focus of the models discussed is the categorization of abstract visual forms by adults in situations where prior knowledge is unlikely to contribute much to performance. Each of the main components of categorization models is discussed: input representations, attentional processes, intermediate representations (e.g., prototypes, exemplars), evidential mechanisms (e.g., similarity, rules), and decision mechanisms (e.g., the choice axiom; Luce, 1959). Models discussed include the Generalized Context Model (Nosofsky, 1986), ALCOVE (Kruschke, 1992), prototype models (e.g., Smith & Minda, 1998), clustering models (e.g., SUSTAIN; Love, Medin & Gureckis, 2004), and multiprocess models (e.g., COVIS; Ashby, Alfonso-Reese, Turken, & Waldron, 1998).