Common And Distinctive Cognitive Processes Between Categorization And Category-based Induction

Both categorization and category-based induction are important ways for people to organize and learn knowledge.Categorization is the process of judging whether two(or more)individuals belong to the same category or whether an individual belongs to a certain category.For example,apples and lemons can be classified as fruits;therefore,categorization facilitates knowledge organization.category-based induction also known as categorical induction,property induction,feature induction,or induction projection,uses categorical knowledge to generalize novel properties using categorical examples.For example,if apples(premise exemplar)have a molecular structure X1,it is then inferable that lemons(conclusion exemplar)have the same molecular structure since they are both fruits.Therefore,category-based induction promotes our knowledge learning.Previous studies have suggested either common or distinctive cognitive processing between categorization and category-based induction.However,no study has compared cognitive processes with the same stimuli sets using event-related potentials(ERPs),which help to determine the cognitive processes with a high temporal solution.In order to explore the relationship of cognitive processes between Categorization and category-based induction,this paper designed three experiments.The pre-experiment was a behavioral research,involving two tasks: categorization and categorybased induction tasks(categorization and induction).In both tasks,the conclusions involved congruent and incongruent conditions(+,-).Moreover,similar semantic material sets were used in both tasks.During the categorization task,the participants were instructed to ignore the symbol combinations and rate the possibility that category exemplars presented in the conclusions and premises belonged to the same categories using a 4-point Likert scale(definitely weak,possibly weak,possibly strong,or definitely strong).During the category-based induction task,the participants were instructed that the symbol combination presented simultaneously with the categorical exemplars indicated its novel molecular structure(e.g.,Apple X1 means that apple has a novel molecular structure of X1).Subsequently,the participants were required to rate the possibility that conclusions shared the same molecular structures with premise exemplars by pressing one of four keys representing definitely weak,possibly weak,possibly strong,or definitely strong.The key sequences were counterbalanced across the participants.Half of the participants were instructed that 1,2,3,and 4 corresponded to “definitely weak,” “possibly weak,” “possibly strong,” and “definitely strong,” respectively,while the order was reversed for the other half.Results showed that categorization has greater “definitely” response proportions and “correct” response proportions than category-based induction.These findings presented that compared categorization,category-based induction involved more uncertainty.In the study 1,the ERP responses were measured and compared upon presentation of the conclusions.ERPs help to determine the cognitive processes with a high temporal solution.The behavioral results repeated the results of the pre-experiment.Categorization has greater “correct”response proportions and “definitely” response proportions than category-based induction.The ERP results showed that categorization featured smaller sustained negativity(SN)amplitudes and FN400 amplitudes than category-based induction.The results of Study 1 showed that categorization and category-based induction have both distinctive and common cognitive processes;SN was the evidence of distinctive cognitive process and FN400 was the evidence of common cognitive process.In order to obtain a more coherent view of the common and distinctive cognitive processes between categorization and category-based induction,we conducted study 2.Study 1 involved specific conclusions(e.g.,pomegranate),and study 2 involved generic conclusions(e.g.,fruit),as specific and generic conclusions are the basic taxonomy of category.The behavioral results were similar to those in Study 1,except that there was a significant difference of reaction times between categorization and category-based induction.Generally,categorization was faster than category-based induction.Overall,this study also proved that categorization and category-based induction have both distinctive and the common cognitive processes.Collectively,this study revealed the common and distinctive cognitive processes between categorization and category-based induction.We compared behavior and ERP responses to categorization and category-based induction using specific conclusions(study 1)and generic conclusions(study 2).In each experiment,categorization and category-based induction task shared the same stimuli set.Compared with category-based induction,behavior results in all experiments showed that categorization had higher “definitely” response proportions in “correct” responses and higher “correct” response proportions.This suggests that categorization involves decreased uncertainty than category-based induction under single premise conditions.Compared with categorybased induction,ERP results in both study 1 & 2 showed that categorization elicited smaller SN amplitudes.This suggests that categorization involves reduced conflict monitoring and control than category-based induction.However,both study 1 & 2 showed that categorization and category-based induction elicited similar FN400 amplitudes,which suggests that categorization and category-based induction share common processing.