ABSTRACT
Categories are learned in many ways, but the focus of much category learning research has been on classification learning. In classification learning, the diagnosticity of features is a primary influence on learning and the category representation. In this paper, we assess this influence of diagnosticity on a different means of category learning, inference learning. In two experiments, each with a different dependent measure, we found the expected result that classification learning led to strong sensitivity to the diagnosticity of the features, even to the exclusion of prototypicality (when controlled for diagnosticity). However, inference learners were significantly less sensitive to the diagnostic value of the features, and were sensitive to the prototypicality. This result provides further evidence for the idea that different types of category learning differentially influence the category representation and provides a better understanding of inference learning.
