Abstract
Multidimensional judgment strategies were investigated by means of a “four stimulus-two choice” — paradigm (FSTC) which combined different dimensions, namely size and brightness or size and color. Three types of hypothetical strategies were analyzed: relative judgments based on only one dimension (type I), absolute judgments based on the similarity between test and training stimuli (type II), and relative judgments based on both dimensions (type III). The stimuli consisted of fairy-tale figures differing in size and brightness in the first condition, brightness and size in the second condition, and color and size in the last one. A total of 144 participants (4 and 18 years old) were tested individually. During the discrimination training a basic categorization was learned. Whereas the 18 years old did not show any categorization differences depending on the dimensions employed, the 4 years old did (weaker results with size and color). During the subsequent test period all three judgment types appeared in both age groups and characterized the main part of the analyzed judgments. Additionally, the 18 years old showed no distinct preference for one of the postulated judgment types, while the 4 years old changed their preferences depending on the combination of dimensions (type I with size and brightness resp. brightness and size, and type II with size and color). The two-dimensional judgment type III remained constant and was used infrequently in both age groups. Further investigations will be concerned with two-dimensional psychophysics in animals (see also Sarris, Hauf & Arlt, 2001 in this volume).