Elemental versus configurai models of categorization in children and adults

In experiment 1, 7-and 8-year-old children learned to classify six features, A–F, as belonging to one of two artificial categories, or to neither category. Feature A and the compound BC were designated as members of Category 1, the compounds DE and EF were members of category 2, while D alone and the compound AB, belonged to neither category. Following successful learning, the participants were asked to rate two groups of test features, ABC and DEF, as likely members of their respective categories. Participants' certainty ratings of the categorization of the compound DEF were greater than for the compound ABC. Experiment 2 replicated the results of experiment 1 with adult participants. These data are at odds with predictions from an elemental associative theory, that suggested by Rescorla and Wagner (1972), which assumes that category judgements are made on the basis of associations between individual features and a category.