TR on development of perceptual comparison

[Michael Gasser]

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The following paper has been placed in the neuroprose archives at 
Ohio State University:

        Comparison, Categorization, and Perceptual Dimensions:
  A Connectionist Model of the Development of the Notion of Sameness

             Michael Gasser               Linda B. Smith
       Computer Science Department     Psychology Department
                          Indiana University

      Indiana University Cognitive Science Research Report 41

			       Abstract

The ability to compare two objects is fundamental to intelligent behavior.  
However, it is important to distinguish between the implicit comparison
that plays a role in all categorization and explicit comparison, by which
two object representations are compared in short-term memory.  Children
learn early on both to categorize and to perform explicit comparison, but
it requires a long time for them to learn to categorize and compare along
particular dimensions.  In this paper we present a connectionist model
which brings together categorization and comparison, focusing on the
development of the use of dimensions in both processes.  The model posits
a very general comparison mechanism which is blind to the nature of its
inputs and sharing of internal object and dimension representations by
categorization and comparison processes.  As the system is trained on
the two processes, it learns to use dimension inputs as filters on the
internal representations for input objects; it is these filtered
representations which are matched in comparison.  The model provides a
natural account of the tendency for early comparison along a single
dimension to be disrupted by similarities along other, irrelevant 
dimensions and of the process through which the child might overcome this 
deficiency.

************************ How to obtain a copy ************************ 

a) via FTP:

% ftp cheops.cis.ohio-state.edu
...
Name (cheops.cis.ohio-state.edu:your-id): anonymous
...
Password: neuron
...
ftp> cd pub/neuroprose
...
ftp> binary
...
ftp> get gasser.same.ps.Z
...
ftp> quit
% uncompress gasser.same.ps.Z
% lpr -P<printer-name> gasser.same.ps


b) via postal mail (only if the above is impossible, please)

Request a hardcopy from

  Beverly Brown, bebbrown at ucs.indiana.edu
  Cognitive Science Program, Psychology 376
  Indiana University
  Bloomington, IN 47405 USA