Peer-reviewedCC BYAttention, perception & psychophysics
Early impressions count: Category ratings established from small samples.
- 1Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
- 2Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. [email protected].
- 3School of Psychology, Speech, and Hearing, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand. [email protected].
Abstract
We examined the establishment of category ratings from small samples in three studies. A Monte Carlo experiment showed that basing categories on the first five or ten numbers encountered could provide a usable way to categorize numbers drawn from flat, normal and skewed distributions. Experiment 2 in which people categorized random integers presented one by one into five bins showed that after five or ten presentations the category structure was quite similar to that obtained after 30 presentations, and Experiment 3 found a similar result when people categorized arc segments. Overall, the results show that usable category ratings can be established from relatively small samples of observations.
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BibTeX
@article{zhang2026early,
title = {{Early impressions count: Category ratings established from small samples.}},
author = {Chuchen Zhang and Simon Kemp and Randolph C Grace},
journal = {Attention, perception \& psychophysics},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3758/s13414-026-03364-y},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42955500},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Early impressions count: Category ratings established from small samples.
AU - Chuchen Zhang
AU - Simon Kemp
AU - Randolph C Grace
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
JO - Attention, perception & psychophysics
DO - 10.3758/s13414-026-03364-y
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42955500
AB - We examined the establishment of category ratings from small samples in three studies. A Monte Carlo experiment showed that basing categories on the first five or ten numbers encountered could provide a usable way to categorize numbers drawn from flat, normal and skewed distributions. Experiment 2 in which people categorized random integers presented one by one into five bins showed that after five or ten presentations the category structure was quite similar to that obtained after 30 presentations, and Experiment 3 found a similar result when people categorized arc segments. Overall, the results show that usable category ratings can be established from relatively small samples of observations.
SN - 1943-3921
SN - 1943-393X
ER -