Task imprinting
Another mechanism of representational change
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21307459 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mirko Thalmann (Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, corresponding author), Theo A J Schäfer, Theo Schäfer (0000-0003-4102-559X, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences), Stephanie Theves (0000-0003-3414-5534, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences), Christian F Doeller (0000-0003-4120-4600, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences), Emily Schulz (0000-0003-3088-0371, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics), Eric Schulz |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 152 |
| Pages | 101670 |
| Publication date | 2024-08-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cognitive Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0010-0285 • E-ISSN: 1095-5623 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2024.101670 |
| PMID | 38996746 |
| OpenAlex | W4400607263 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 60 |
Research from several areas suggests that mental representations adapt to the specific tasks we carry out in our environment. In this study, we propose a mechanism of adaptive representational change, task imprinting. Thereby, we introduce a computational model, which portrays task imprinting as an adaptation to specific task goals via selective storage of helpful representations in long-term memory. We test the main qualitative prediction of the model in four behavioral experiments using healthy young adults as participants. In each experiment, we assess participants' baseline representations in the beginning of the experiment, then expose participants to one of two tasks intended to shape representations differently according to our model, and finally assess any potential change in representations. Crucially, the tasks used to measure representations differ in the amount that strategic, judgmental processes play a role. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 allow us to exclude the option that representations used in more perceptual tasks become biased categorically. The results of Experiment 4 make it likely that people strategically decide given the specific task context whether they use categorical information or not. One signature of representational change was however observed: category learning practice increased the perceptual sensitivity over and above mere exposure to the same stimuli
Biology · Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Epistemology · Imprinting (psychology) · Mechanism (biology) · Task (project management) · Action Observation and Synchronization · Child and Animal Learning Development · Embodied and Extended Cognition · Genetics · Psychology
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| Highly cited | No |
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