{"pk":32834,"title":"The Role of Physical Properties in Understanding the Functionality of Objects","subtitle":null,"abstract":"We investigate the role of physical properties in determining how people select objects for use in physical activities. W e propose a geometric model in which dimensions represent properties relevant to the goals of the activity and objects occur as points in this property space. A n object's proximity to an ideal value on each property is additively combined across properties to produce a measure of the usefulness of the object for that activity. W e report an experiment that shows that this ideal-point model successfully describes how people select an object for use in a physical activity by using physical properties as an intermediary factor. This model is derived from models of preference choice in which an individual selects objects that he or she prefers.","language":"eng","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[],"section":"Paper Presentations -- Memory for Objects","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9169x8s7","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Daniel","middle_name":"S.","last_name":"Jordan","name_suffix":"","institution":"Stanford University","department":""},{"first_name":"Jeff","middle_name":"","last_name":"Shrager","name_suffix":"","institution":"Xerox Palo Alto Research Center","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"1991-01-01T18:00:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/cognitivesciencesociety/article/32834/galley/23894/download/"}]}