Event category learning

This research investigated the learning of event categories, in particular, categories of simple animated events, each involving a causal interaction between 2 characters. Four experiments examined whether correlations among attributes of events are easier to learn when they form part of a rich correlational structure than when they are independent of other correlations. Event attributes (e.g., state change, path of motion) were chosen to reflect distinctions made by verbs. Participants were presented with an unsupervised learning task and were then tested on whether the organization of correlations affected learning. Correlations forming part of a system of correlations were found to be better learned than isolated correlations. This finding of facilitation from correlational structure is explained in terms of a model that generates internal feedback to adjust the salience of attributes. These experiments also provide evidence regarding the role of object information in events, suggesting that this role is mediated by object category representations.

[1]  A. Michotte The perception of causality , 1963 .

[2]  L. J. Chapman,et al.  Genesis of popular but erroneous psychodiagnostic observations. , 1967, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[3]  G. Bower,et al.  Attention in Learning: Theory and Research , 1968 .

[4]  Daniel Kahneman,et al.  Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability , 1973 .

[5]  Wayne D. Gray,et al.  Basic objects in natural categories , 1976, Cognitive Psychology.

[6]  Janellen Huttenlocher,et al.  The semantic organization of some simple nouns and verbs , 1979 .

[7]  S. Yussen,et al.  Observational learning. , 1979, Science.

[8]  D. Slobin The Origins of Grammatical Encoding of Events , 1982 .

[9]  D. Gentner,et al.  SOME INTERESTING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VERBS AND NOUNS , 1981 .

[10]  Mark W. Altom,et al.  Correlated symptoms and simulated medical classification. , 1982, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[11]  J. Huttenlocher,et al.  Emergence of Action Categories in the Child: Evidence from Verb Meanings. , 1983 .

[12]  E. Spelke,et al.  Perception of partly occluded objects in infancy , 1983, Cognitive Psychology.

[13]  Edward E. Smith,et al.  Correlated properties in natural categories , 1984 .

[14]  D. Homa,et al.  Role of feedback, category size, and stimulus distortion on the acquisition and utilization of ill-defined categories , 1984 .

[15]  K. Holyoak,et al.  Induction of category distributions: a framework for classification learning. , 1984, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[16]  D. Medin,et al.  The role of theories in conceptual coherence. , 1985, Psychological review.

[17]  L. Talmy Lexicalisation patterns: semantic structure in lexical forms , 1985 .

[18]  K. Nelson,et al.  Event knowledge : structure and function in development , 1986 .

[19]  R. Jackendoff On beyond Zebra: The relation of linguistic and visual information , 1987, Cognition.

[20]  Arthur C. Graesser,et al.  Differences in interconcept organization between nouns and verbs , 1987 .

[21]  A. Leslie,et al.  Do six-month-old infants perceive causality? , 1987, Cognition.

[22]  Leonard Talmy,et al.  (1) Lexicalization patterns: Semantic structure in lexical forms; and , 1987 .

[23]  Dorrit Billman,et al.  Observational Learning From Internal Feedback: A Simulation of an Adaptive Learning Method , 1988, Cogn. Sci..

[24]  A. Leslie The necessity of illusion: Perception and thought in infancy , 1988 .

[25]  Roger C. Schank,et al.  SCRIPTS, PLANS, GOALS, AND UNDERSTANDING , 1988 .

[26]  G. Bower,et al.  From conditioning to category learning: an adaptive network model. , 1988 .

[27]  Lawrence W. Barsalou,et al.  Systematicity and Semantic Ambiguity , 1989 .

[28]  Dorrit Billman,et al.  Systems of correlations in rule and category learning: Use of structured input in learning syntactic categories , 1989 .

[29]  D A Behrend,et al.  The development of verb concepts: children's use of verbs to label familiar and novel events. , 1990, Child development.

[30]  John R. Anderson,et al.  The Adaptive Nature of Human Categorization , 1991 .

[31]  Philippe G. Schyns A Modular Neural Network Model of Concept Acquisition , 1991 .

[32]  M. Tomasello,et al.  Joint attention on actions: acquiring verbs in ostensive and non-ostensive contexts , 1992, Journal of Child Language.

[33]  J. Kruschke,et al.  ALCOVE: an exemplar-based connectionist model of category learning. , 1992, Psychological review.

[34]  L. Cohen,et al.  How infants perceive a simple causal event , 1993 .

[35]  E. Heit,et al.  Models of the effects of prior knowledge on category learning. , 1994, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[36]  Ángel Cabrera,et al.  Language-driven concept learning: Deciphering Jabberwocky. , 1996 .

[37]  James F. Knutson,et al.  Unsupervised Concept Learning and Value Systematicity: A Complex Whole Aids Learning the Parts , 1996 .

[38]  Robert L. Goldstone,et al.  The development of features in object concepts , 1998, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.