What is the exemplar theory of categorization?

Exemplar theory assumes that categorization is a process of learning about the exemplars that belong to the category. When an unfamiliar stimulus is encountered, its similarity is computed to the memory representation of every previously seen exemplar from each potentially relevant category.

Who developed exemplar theory?

Robert Nosofsky
In the 1980s, Robert Nosofsky proposed exemplar theory as a potential explanation. Exemplar theory is a cognitive and psychological explanation for how categorisation occurs.

What is exemplar based approach?

Exemplar-based categorization approaches carefully go through all encountered examples in a given category to allow for accurate categorization. Contradictory statements have been made about the accuracy of the exemplar theory for categorization when it is compared to prototype theory.

What is theory based categorization?

Theory-Based View We see things as a whole; images and objects are assessed in context with each other. Theory-based views of object recognition categorizes based on features, instances, and concepts viewed as a whole.

How is exemplar theory used in categorization?

Exemplar Theory refers to an approach of categorization in psychology using which individuals can make decisions by comparing new examples with the examples which is already present in their mind. Instead of relying on a single prototype, categories have many or known exemplars that fit into them.

How are exemplars used to make category judgments?

Exemplar theory. It argues that individuals make category judgments by comparing new stimuli with instances already stored in memory. The instance stored in memory is the “exemplar”. The new stimulus is assigned to a category based on the greatest number of similarities it holds with exemplars in that category.

What are prototype and exemplar theories of concept knowledge?

Two conceptual representational models which help to account for this process are the prototype and exemplar theories of concept knowledge. A prototype is an idealised or average representation of properties within a conceptual category that can be used as a reference when categorising various stimuli (Lin and Murphy, 1997).

Which is an example of typicality in exemplar theory?

Typicality is an idea often associated with exemplar theory, where the best fitting exemplars, or those sharing the most characteristics with other exemplars of the category, are considered typical and lead to quicker categorization of new stimuli that are similar to these typical exemplars.