The Structure of Similarity
{'Code': '04040500', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'SBE', 'LongName': 'Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'BCS', 'LongName': 'Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sci'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Jasmine Young', 'PO_EMAI': 'jyoung@nsf.gov', 'PO_PHON': '7032924833'}
This research is concerned with the development and testing of                  psychological theories of similarity structure and similarity                   judgments.  Similarity is a concept fundamental to virtually                    all aspects of cognition, theoretical and applied.  For example,                theories of memory rely on the observation that people often are                reminded of similar events, and theories of learning predict                    transfer on the basis of similarity between learning and test                   conditions.  In everyday life, the errors people make are often                 based on the use of inappropriate similarity matches, and a good                deal of learning and transfer of training appears to be governed                by what people find similar.  Thus, an adequate theory of                       similarity is essential for theoretical advances in understanding               cognition and in their application.                                                                                                                             This research stems from the fundamental insight that similarity                of two things depends not only on the similarity of features or                 parts, but also on how those parts are put together, the                        relations among the parts.  Previous research has demonstrated                  the advantages of formal mathematical models in understanding the               role of attributes in similarity.  The current research will                    apply and extend these previous formalisms to incorporate the                   contribution of relations to similarity, in addition to the role                of attributes.  Separating structure from processing principles                 is crucial for understanding a variety of experimental results,                 such as (1) that the similarity of object A to object B may be                  different from the similarity of B to A, (2) that the similarity                of A to B may depend on what other objects are present, and (3)                 that adding the same property to objects A and B may change which               one of the them is judged to be more similar to object C.                       Preliminary research indicates that these observations depend                   importantly on whether similarity is based on attributes,                       relations, or mixtures of attributes and relations.                                                                                                             Most of the studies involve presenting people with material                     (e.g., geometric forms, descriptions of objects) and asking them                to make similarity judgments.  In other studies, reaction times                 and errors in various tasks will provide an indirect measure of                 similarity.  Computer simulations of similarity and analogy will                model the experimental results.  The research will also begin the               study of the role of structural similarity in learning and                      concept formation.
{'FirstName': 'Dedre', 'LastName': 'Gentner', 'PI_MID_INIT': None, 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Dedre Gentner', 'EmailAddress': 'gentner@northwestern.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000426434', 'StartDate': '05/01/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign', 'CityName': 'URBANA', 'ZipCode': '618013620', 'PhoneNumber': '2173332187', 'StreetAddress': '506 S WRIGHT ST', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Illinois', 'StateCode': 'IL', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '13', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'IL13', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'Y8CWNJRCNN91', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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{'Code': '118000', 'Text': 'HUMAN COGNITION & PERCEPTION'}
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