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The search for structure in conceptual representation: A response to Perruchet et al.
Author(s) -
Richardson Ken
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1995.tb02569.x
Subject(s) - psychology , imperfect , representation (politics) , simple (philosophy) , cognitive psychology , epistemology , linguistics , philosophy , politics , political science , law
In a critical note of some of our studies, Perruchet, Pacteau & Gallego (1993) suggest that performance on category recognition, which we account for through storage of imperfect covariations, can in fact be accounted for in terms of a very simple exemplar‐storage model. It is argued here that Perruchet et al. exaggerate the effectiveness of their model; that they fail to mention experimental data that their exemplar model cannot account for; that their attempt to reduce the effectiveness of a covariation model to background knowledge is paradoxical; and that their own model is dangerously unconstrained, theoretically, in adopting arbitrary coefficients for improving data fits.