Research On The Characteristics Of Semantic Classification Flexibility Of College Students

Semantic classification flexibility refers to the ability to carry out multiple classification by selecting the relevant meaning represented by the target of a specific situation.That is,the ability of individuals to flexibly adjust and convert different classification methods when facing different experimental conditions or feedback(for example,from taxonomic classification to thematic classification or from thematic classification to component taxonomic classification).Semantic classification flexibility helps to reduce the loss of individual cognitive resources and enhance problem-solving ability.Clarifying the behavioral characteristics and eye movement characteristics of College Students' semantic classification flexibility can provide theoretical support and practical enlightenment for classification research.This study selects college student as subjects,and uses behavior and eye movement experiments to explore the characteristics and internal mechanism of semantic classification flexibility of Chinese college students.This study consists of three sub-studies.In Study 1,a sample matching paradigm of free classification was used to investigate the semantic classification tendency towards 38 college students.In Study 2,70 college students were selected as subjects to explore the semantic classification flexibility of college students under given rules by using sample matching paradigms with limited conditions(including “taxonomic-taxonomic-thematic” and“thematic-thematic-taxonomic”).Study 3 used 68 college students as subjects to further explore the eye movement characteristics of semantic classification flexibility of college students.The results show that:(1)under the condition of free classification,college students have significant differences in the two ways of semantic classification.Compared with thematic classification,college students prefer taxonomic classification.(2)Under the limited rules,there are significant differences between the two experimental conditions of“taxonomic-taxonomic-thematic” and “thematic-thematic-taxonomic”.Comprehensive analysis shows that college students are more flexible in taxonomic classification.(3)There are significant differences in eye movement fixation trajectories between thematic relationship pictures and taxonomic relationship pictures.In the maintenance stage,the pupil diameter of college students looking at the thematic relationship picture was significantly larger than that of taxonomic relationship picture and target picture;The number of retrospectives for the thematic relation pictures was significantly higher than that of the taxonomic relation pictures and the target pictures;However,the reading time of looking back path of taxonomic relation pictures was significantly longer than that of thematic relation pictures.In the transformation stage,the number of college students looking back at the thematic relationship picture is significantly more than the taxonomic relationship picture and the target picture.To sum up,it is more difficult for college students to process thematic relationship pictures,and they need more cognitive resources than taxonomic relationship pictures.The above results show that college students have the advantage of taxonomic classification and have higher flexibility in this classification method.