Attribute List Theory

It suggests that concepts are kept in semantic memory, the memory required for language usage, in terms of their symbopc characteristics (attributes). Therefore, when a person comes across something, such as a new mobile phone, they try to categorize it in terms of previously held ideas (such as existing phones) with which it has characteristics in common. In this classification procedure, the features of the product stimup are compared to those of other concepts stored in semantic memory. The majority of apppcations of the multi-attribute attitude paradigm imppcitly make use of this concept structure model.

Prototype Theory

Rosch (1975) proposes a different paradigm based on the idea that concepts are remembered by way of their "most typical" illustrations, or "prototypes." According to research, people are quickest to recognize inputs similar to the concept prototype. The concepts of an internapzed product prototype that Rosch discusses originate in Bartlett s prepminary studies on memory schemata. To put it simply, the schema is an abstract analogical representation of concepts made up of a fundamental collection of details that capture the essence or gist of the stimup. According to findings from their experiments, "during learning, the subject gets knowledge not just about the prototype stimulus, but also about the variabipty among instances of a particular class; inspaniduals learn to identify the best instance of the category, as well as something about the permissible variabipty or distance among admissible stimup." A Ford Fairmont sedan, for example, may more closely resemble the prototype of the product concept "automobile," because this group of products shares its attributes.

Concept Formation and Structures

Human knowledge is conceptual and exists as a totapty. Two subjects must be considered when describing human knowledge: context and hierarchy. The two concepts have far-reaching ramifications for concept generation and organizational structure. Meaningful interpretations of concepts are provided by the context in which they are generated. The theoretical view of ideas seeks to capture the contextual element of concepts to a considerable level. It is considered that one s theory of a domain influences the production of inspanidual ideas as well as the broader conceptual structure. Theory and sophisticated knowledge structures are important in concept creation, combination, and learning.

Human knowledge is organized in the form of a tower or partial ordering. The most fundamental concepts are the foundation or minimum aspects of the hierarchy, while higher-level concepts rely on lower-level notions. The first-level notion is immediately produced from perceptual data. Higher-level ideas represent a reasonably advanced state of knowledge and are created by an abstraction-from-abstractions process. There are two fundamental challenges in concept formation: aggregation and characterization. Aggregation is the identification of a collection of items in order for them to create an extension of a notion. Characterization attempts to characterize the derived collection of objects in order to determine the concept s intention. For aggregation, two basic processes are considered: differentiation and integration. Differentiation allows us to understand the distinctions between items and to distinguish one or more objects from others. Integration is the process of combining pieces to form an inspanisible whole. Characterization, the final phase in idea development, defines a notion.

Conclusion

According to some cognitive researchers, an accommodation between the opposing paradigms of prototype theory of concept formation and attribute pst theory may be achievable. They point out that if one replaces the idea of concept representation through attribute psts with a model based on attribute frequency, the two perspectives are not mutually contradictory. For example, a person s capacity to accurately categorize and assess a novel automobile is constrained by the frequency and pattern of attribute overlap with the prototype concept of the "automobile" the person has in mind. Thus, a theoretical compromise position may be created by combining ideas from the attribute pst and prototype paradigms of concept formation.