Interactions Between Rule-based And Similarity-based Process In Complex Visual Categorization

Category research is one of the most important aspects of cognitive psychology. Especially nowadays, category research plays an important role in international psychology research. Traditional theories of category research are based on single-system model which can be divided into two categories:rule-based category versus similarity-based category. But in the past decade, category study has focused on multiple-system Model which was supported not only by behavioral experiments but also by cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology. Because of the two different category structures used in experimental research, the multiple-system theory has been criticized by the single-system theory.Nowadays multiple-system theory has been gradually accepted by most people. However, there are some questions which are not clear and are still in early research, such as how the processes of rule-based and similarity-based are in one category task, how the two processes interact, and what the factors which may influence the interaction. There are debate on the condition and mechanism in which the two processes interact.Focusing on these questions, this paper compares the differences of rule-based process and similarity-based process in the same complex visual categorization task, and studies the interaction and mechanism of the two category processes, in order to investigate categorization process and mechanism more deeply and globally.This research consists of four experiments. Firstly, we compare the influences of different stimulus on the rule-based category process and similarity-based category process. Secondly, under the working memory load, we study the influence of different perceptual load on the two category processes. Thirdly, using the most difficult perceptual stimulus, we study the contributions of consciousness and unconsciousness in the two category processes. Fourthly, using the most difficult perceptual stimulus, we study the category strategy of participants in the two category processes.The main results are elaborated as follows:1. The rule-based category process and similarity-based category process are two different cognition processes.2. The rule-based process and similarity-based process can exist and interact in one category task.3. In one category task, the two processes of rule-based and similarity-based are influenced by many factors such as the rule complexity, the perceptual load, the perceptual saliency, the attention, and the category strategy, et al.4. The multiple-system theory, not the single-system theory, is supported by the interaction mechanism of the two category processes.