The Similarities And Differences Between Recognition And Category-based Induction In Semantic Context

Both memory and induction are the most fundamental components in human cognitive process.To further explore the relationship between memory and category-based induction,two experimental researches were performed in present study.The first research was a behavioral research,and was applied to exploring the relationship between category-based induction and recognition in semantic context.The same set of semantic stimuli was applied to test the behavioral reactions during the recognition task and the category-based induction task.In the recognition condition,the subjects were asked to study the words shown at the learning stage,and then to recognize the word that has been studied once during the testing stage.In the category-based induction condition,the subjects were informed that the stimuli shown in the learning stage share a property(for example,they are susceptible to disease Z),and they need to infer that whether the test item share this property.The experimental material involved two categories(fruit,mammal).Words that divided into old group(words that have been shown in the learning stage)and new group(words that were only appeared in the testing stage)have been matched on familiarity,typicality,and word frequency.The first research was consisted of two experiments.These two experiments were both contain two conditions.The participants of experiment 1A were recruited university undergraduates,and they were informed to learn the old items for three times.The participants of experiment 1B were recruited university undergraduates,and they were informed to learn the old items for only one time.The participants of experiment 2A were children of fifth grade and were informed to learn the old items for three times.The participants of experiment 2B were children of fifth grade and were informed to learn the old items for only one time.The response rates and reaction times were collected for each participant.The results of these four experiments show that,(1)for the correct response rates,there was no significant difference between recognition and induction to old items,but there was a significant difference between recognition and induction to new items,which means that the correct response rate of recognition was higher than category-based induction.And this effect was found both in adult group and children group.(2)For the reaction time,it was shorter for old items than for the new items in both recognition and induction,and it was shorter for recognition than for the induction in both old and new items.And these differences were found both in adult group and children group.(3)For the sensitivity of discrimination,it was stricter for recognition than for induction.And this effect was found both in adult group and children group,and regardless of present frequency.The first research had shown that the recognition has a higher response threshold than induction in the semantic context.Here in the second research,we compared the event-related potential(ERP)responses of recognition and category-based induction to exam the hypothesis that memory and induction share a common or parallel cognitive process.The range of experimental materials was extended to five natural categories(fruit,mammal,insect,bird,vegetable).University undergraduates were recruited for the experiment,and the response rates,reaction times,and ERP data were collected.The experimental procedure was same as the first research.What's more,the participants learned the old items for three times.ERP data were analyzed using the EEGLAB and ERPLAB toolbox in MATLAB.The results of the second research showed that,(1)for the behavioral data,the sensitivity of discrimination was stricter for recognition than for induction,which was same as the first research.(2)For the ERP data,the classical old/new effects were found both in recognition and category-based induction conditions in the time windows of 350–450 ms,450–600 ms,and 600–800 ms.What's more,there were no other significant differences between recognition and category-based induction except for the 350–450 ms time window.The recognition condition elicited a larger frontal positivity in the 350–450 ms time window(FN320/FN400),which indicting a more stringent response to the recognition than induction.Therefore,the results have provided the evidence to support the hypothesis that recognition and induction shared a single cognitive process but distinguished by different response criterion.Synthesize all of above,the results of two researches provided evidence to support the common mechanism hypothesis between induction and memory,and the distinction between them can be explained by various response criteria.