Spatial distinctiveness effect in categorisation

The goal of the present study was to find evidence for a multisensory generalization effect (i.e., generalization from one sensory modality to another sensory modality). The authors used an innovative paradigm (adapted from Brunel, Labeye, Lesourd, & Versace, 2009 ) involving three phases: a learning phase, consisting in the categorization of geometrical shapes, which manipulated the rules of association between shapes and a sound feature, and two test phases. The first of these was designed to examine the priming effect of the geometrical shapes seen in the learning phase on target tones (i.e., priming task), while the aim of the second was to examine the probability of recognizing the previously learned geometrical shapes (i.e., recognition task). When a shape category was mostly presented with a sound during learning, all of the primes (including those not presented with a sound in the learning phase) enhanced target processing compared to a condition in which the primes were mostly seen without a sound during learning. A pattern of results consistent with this initial finding was also observed during recognition, with the participants being unable to pick out the shape seen without a sound during the learning phase. Experiment 1 revealed a multisensory generalization effect across the members of a category when the objects belonging to the same category share the same value on the shape dimension. However, a distinctiveness effect was observed when a salient feature distinguished the objects within the category (Experiment 2a vs. 2b).

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The Distinctiveness Effect in the Recognition of Whole Melodies

Music Perception An Interdisciplinary Journal ◽

10.1525/mp.2019.36.3.253 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 253-272

Author(s):

Miriam Rainsford ◽

Matthew A. Palmer ◽

James D. Sauer

Keyword(s):

Computational Analysis ◽

Recognition Performance ◽

Human Perception ◽

Mixed Effects ◽

Linear Mixed Effects ◽

Stimulus Set ◽

Mixed Effects Modeling ◽

Frequent Interval ◽

Distinctiveness Effect

Distinctive stimuli are better recognized than typical stimuli in many domains (e.g., faces, words). Distinctiveness predicts the point of recognition of a melody (Bailes, 2010), and the recognition of unique tones within a melody (Vuvan, Podolak, & Schmuckler, 2014), yet no studies have examined the role of distinctiveness in recognizing whole melodies. We composed a set of novel melodies according to rules that should result in these being perceived as more or less distinctive. Using computational analysis and human ratings by a group of 36 pilot testers, we established a final stimulus set of 96 novel melodies (48 eightnote, 48 sixteen-note), half of which were high and half low in distinctiveness. A separate group of 26 participants completed a recognition test using this stimulus set. Using linear mixed-effects modeling, we found that greater pitch and interval range, wider intervals, varied contour, and ambiguous tonality within a Western diatonic framework predicted human perception of distinctiveness. However, only a wider modal (most frequent) interval predicted correct recognition. Distinctiveness improved recognition performance in both stimulus lengths; however, a significant advantage was only shown for sixteen-note melodies. Thus, the distinctiveness effect as observed across domains generalizes to the recognition of longer, whole melodies.

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The Mnemonic of Intuitive Ontology Violation is not the Distinctiveness Effect: Evidence from a Broad Age Spectrum of Persons in the uk and China during a Free-Recall Task

Journal of Cognition and Culture ◽

10.1163/15685373-12342197 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 17 (1-2) ◽

pp. 169-197 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Justin P. Gregory ◽

Tyler S. Greenway

Keyword(s):

Free Recall ◽

Cultural Transmission ◽

Age Effect ◽

Recall Task ◽

Ontological Category ◽

Alternative Account ◽

Free Recall Task ◽

The Uk ◽

Counterintuitive Concepts ◽

Distinctiveness Effect

The typical formulation of Pascal Boyer’s counterintuitiveness theory asserts that concepts violating intuitive ontological-category structures are more memorable. However, Boyer’s (2001) original claim centred on the transmission advantages of counter-ontological representations that were cultural. Nevertheless, subsequent studies focused on the recall of novel counterintuitive representations, and an “alternative account” of the memorability of counterintuitive concepts has emerged resembling the distinctiveness effect. Yet, experimental evidence shows that familiar concepts have memorability advantages over novel ones. This investigation of these pan-cultural transmission biases used a large age-representative sample (13–86 years; N = 365) in the uk and China. Results were analysed by hlm, with familiarity, counterintuitiveness, and delay as 2-level fixed factors, and age as a covariate. No support was revealed for the typical formulation of the hypothesis — however, a significant age effect and interaction of familiarity × counterintuitiveness were found.

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The Distinctiveness Effect in Social Categorization: You Are What Makes You Unusual

Psychological Science ◽

10.1111/j.1467-9280.1995.tb00600.x ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 246-249 ◽

Cited By ~ 46

Author(s):

Lori J. Nelson ◽

Dale T. Miller

Keyword(s):

Social Categorization ◽

Tennis Player ◽

Target Person ◽

Distinctiveness Effect ◽

Interpersonal Similarity

Three studies tested the hypothesis that people assume that the identities of other people are tied more closely to their distinctive than to their nondistinctive traits In Studies 1 and 3, subjects predicted the preferences of a target person who was a member of both a statistically distinctive and a statistically nondistinctive category (e g, sky diver and tennis player) In Study 2, subjects judged the degree of interpersonal similarity between pairs of people sharing distinctive as opposed to nondistinctive category memberships Consistent with the hypothesis, subjects linked targets with their more distinctive traits and assumed targets would be more similar to people who shared their distinctive traits than to people who shared their nondistinctive traits The implications of this distinctiveness effect for an understanding of stereotyping are explored

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