A feature utilization analysis of the perception of pattern class structure

Patterns were computer-generated about two prototypes to form schematic clusters of three diameters about the cluster centroids. In a schematic concept-formation task, recovery of a priori schematic class membership by Os varied inversely as physical cluster diameter, with concept acquisition across trials evidenced in only the low-cluster-diameter condition. For each 0 who failed to classify according to the schema rule, linear discriminant function analysis was applied to his classes. In all cases, O-generated classes were successfully recovered by the physical pattern features used as predictors, the mapping of these classes by the LDF exceeding that by the schema rule in accuracy at all cluster-diameter levels.