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{
    "pk": 26455,
    "title": "Performance Pressure and Comparison in Relational Category Learning",
    "subtitle": null,
    "abstract": "An important objective in higher-order cognition research isto understand how relational categories are acquired andapplied. Much of the research on relational category learninghas investigated the role of within-category comparisonopportunities in category acquisition and transfer – guided bypredictions from structure mapping theory that alignmentleads to highlighting and abstraction of shared relationalstructure (Gentner, 1983). Recent research has yielded awithin-category comparison advantage under the supervisedobservational learning mode (relative to twice as many single-item trials), but not under the supervised classification mode(Patterson & Kurtz, 2015). In the present study we investigatethe role that pressure to succeed at the training task – a criticaldifference between the two learning modes – plays in theapparent ineffectiveness of learning by comparison within theclassification mode. In a 2x2 between-subjects design wecrossed two levels of performance pressure (elevated andstandard) with two presentation formats (single-item andwithin-category pairs). The main findings are: (1) asignificant interaction showing a negative impact of increasedperformance pressure for single-item learners, but not forcomparison learners; and (2) a theoretically predicted, butempirically elusive effect of comparison over single-item inthe classification mode. We conclude that: (1) performancepressure exerts a deleterious effect on relational categorylearning (in accord with findings in the attribute categoryliterature) that opportunities to compare may compensate for;and (2) pressure to perform does not appear to underlielackluster comparison + classification performance (relativeto observational learning). Further, we offer new evidence onthe role that within-category comparison plays in relationalcategory learning.",
    "language": "eng",
    "license": {
        "name": "",
        "short_name": "",
        "text": null,
        "url": ""
    },
    "keywords": [
        {
            "word": "relational categories; structural alignment;comparison; classification learning; transfer; performancepressure"
        }
    ],
    "section": "Papers",
    "is_remote": true,
    "remote_url": "https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4kd6x7b1",
    "frozenauthors": [
        {
            "first_name": "John",
            "middle_name": "D.",
            "last_name": "Patterson",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "Binghamton University",
            "department": ""
        },
        {
            "first_name": "Kenneth",
            "middle_name": "J.",
            "last_name": "Kurtz",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "Binghamton University",
            "department": ""
        }
    ],
    "date_submitted": null,
    "date_accepted": null,
    "date_published": "2016-01-01T18:00:00Z",
    "render_galley": null,
    "galleys": [
        {
            "label": "PDF",
            "type": "pdf",
            "path": "https://journalpub.escholarship.org/cognitivesciencesociety/article/26455/galley/16091/download/"
        }
    ]
}