A memory-based model of category rating. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. The model is based on the cognitive architecture ACT-R and uses anchors stored in memory that serve as prototypes for the stimuli classified within a response category. The anchors are retrieved by a partial matching mechanism and updated dynamically by an incremental learning mechanism.
Anchors also have base-level activations that reflect the frequency and recency of the responses.
These mechanisms give rise to sequential effects and nonuniform response distributions. A psychological experiment involving category rating of physical length is reported and the predictions of the model are compared against the empirical data. The psychophysical implications of the model are discussed.