Classifying
Schematic Faces: Reaction Time Analysis Based on the Similarity
Structure
S. Yoshikawa |
Pattern
classification performance was examined in relation to the configuration
of the similarity space yielded by multidimensional scaling. Subjects
were asked to discriminate between four schematic face stimuli used
as category prototypes and then sort the other stimuli as well as
the prototype stimuli into one of four categories as quickly as possible.
Each prototype face was located approximately on each dimensional
axis in a similarity space having one of the dimensional properties
in moderate degree. The reaction time data showed that extreme stimuli
for which the dimensional properties are clearer than that of their
prototype were classified significantly faster than their prototypes.
The results showed that, instead of classifying patterns in terms
of their similarity to the prototype, subjects abstracted the dimensional
properties which characterize the prototype patterns and sorted each
pattern based on the knowledge of these abstracted properties.
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