COLLINS AND LOFTUS MODEL: PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AFFECTS NETWORKS

COLLINS AND LOFTUS MODEL: PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AFFECTS NETWORKS

Collins and Lottos (1975) proposed a model that resulted in networks like the one in which concepts that are more closely related are connected by shorter lines.  For example, the network indicates that for example, "vehicle" is connected to "car" "truck" and "bus" by short links (because these are closely related to the concepts) but is connected to "fire engine" and "ambulance" (which are less typical vehicle than car, truck, or bus) by longer links. These shorter links predict faster reaction times for the more typical vehicles. The Collins and Loftus model abandons  the hierarchical structure used by Collins and Loftus in favor of a structure based on a person's experience. This means that the spacing between various concepts can differ for various people depending on their experience and knowledge about specific concepts.

In addition to proposing exponentially based links between concepts Collins and Loftus also proposed a number of additional modifications to the Collins and Quillian model to deal with problems like cognitive economy and the pig-mammal problem. The details of their proposed modifications are not important. What is important is that these modifications are made it possible to explain just about any result of categorization experiments. Collins and Loftus described their theory as "a fairly complicated theory with enough generality to apply to results from many different experimental paradigms". Although you might think that being able to explain just about any result would be an advantage.