ADULTS’ USE OF LABELS IN CATEGORIZATION
Date
2017-05
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Linguistic labels influence adults’ placement of category boundaries, more so
than numbers or symbols. In this experiment, adults were asked to categorize
perceptually ambiguous stimuli, either using label, number, or symbol cues to assist
them in their categorization decision. In addition, some participants were instructed to
ignore the cues (Accidental condition), some were instructed to pay attention and use
the cues to help them in their decision (Intentional condition), and others were not
made explicitly aware of the cues (Neutral condition). We found was that participants
were significantly less likely to remember the symbol cues than either the label or
number cues regardless of condition. Furthermore, participants attended to linguistic
labels to aid in their categorization task more so than other cues. Our findings are
consistent with previous research that attests that linguistic labels are influential in
aiding category formation.
Description
Keywords
LABELS, CATEGORIZATION, Linguistics