Categorization, Information Selection and Stimulus Uncertainty

David J. Halpern, Todd M. Gureckis

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Although a common assumption in models of perceptual discrimination, most models of categorization do not explicitly account for uncertainty in stimulus measurement. Such uncertainty may arise from inherent perceptual noise or external measurement noise (e.g., a medical test that gives variable results). In this paper we explore how people decide to gather information from various stimulus properties when each sample or measurement is noisy. The participant's goal is to correctly classify the given item. Across two experiments we find support for the idea that people take category structure into account when selecting information for a classification decision. In addition, we find some evidence that people are also sensitive to their own perceptual uncertainty when selecting information.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCogSci 2017 - Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
Subtitle of host publicationComputational Foundations of Cognition
PublisherThe Cognitive Science Society
Pages464-469
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9780991196760
StatePublished - 2017
Event39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Computational Foundations of Cognition, CogSci 2017 - London, United Kingdom
Duration: Jul 26 2017Jul 29 2017

Publication series

NameCogSci 2017 - Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Computational Foundations of Cognition

Conference

Conference39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Computational Foundations of Cognition, CogSci 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityLondon
Period7/26/177/29/17

Keywords

  • attention
  • categorization
  • information sampling

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Categorization, Information Selection and Stimulus Uncertainty'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this