TY - JOUR
T1 - Overcoming default categorical bias in spatial memory
AU - Sampaio, Cristina
AU - Wang, Ranxiao Frances
N1 - Funding Information:
Experiment 2 reported in this article was part of C.S.’s doctoral dissertation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was supported by NSF Grant BCS 03-17681 to R.F.W.
PY - 2010/12
Y1 - 2010/12
N2 - In the present study, we investigated whether a strong default categorical bias can be overcome in spatial memory by using alternative membership information. In three experiments, we tested location memory in a circular space while providing participants with an alternative categorization. We found that visual presentation of the boundaries of the alternative categories (Experiment 1) did not induce the use of the alternative categories in estimation. In contrast, visual cuing of the alternative category membership of a target (Experiment 2) and unique target feature information associated with each alternative category (Experiment 3) successfully led to the use of the alternative categories in estimation. Taken together, the results indicate that default categorical bias in spatial memory can be overcome when appropriate cues are provided. We discuss how these findings expand the category adjustment model (Huttenlocher, Hedges, & Duncan, 1991) in spatial memory by proposing a retrieval-based category adjustment (RCA) model.
AB - In the present study, we investigated whether a strong default categorical bias can be overcome in spatial memory by using alternative membership information. In three experiments, we tested location memory in a circular space while providing participants with an alternative categorization. We found that visual presentation of the boundaries of the alternative categories (Experiment 1) did not induce the use of the alternative categories in estimation. In contrast, visual cuing of the alternative category membership of a target (Experiment 2) and unique target feature information associated with each alternative category (Experiment 3) successfully led to the use of the alternative categories in estimation. Taken together, the results indicate that default categorical bias in spatial memory can be overcome when appropriate cues are provided. We discuss how these findings expand the category adjustment model (Huttenlocher, Hedges, & Duncan, 1991) in spatial memory by proposing a retrieval-based category adjustment (RCA) model.
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U2 - 10.3758/MC.38.8.1041
DO - 10.3758/MC.38.8.1041
M3 - Article
C2 - 21156868
AN - SCOPUS:78650633621
SN - 0090-502X
VL - 38
SP - 1041
EP - 1048
JO - Memory and Cognition
JF - Memory and Cognition
IS - 8
ER -