Transmission of information concerning concepts through positive and negative instances.

Abstract

A report on 3 experiments testing the acquisition of concepts under positive and negative instances of stimulus presentation characteristics. The amount of information conveyed by each type of instance was equated. Weigl-type cards and flower design cards were the stimulus material. Results showed that all-negative instances are consistently inferior to all-positive instances. The generalization that concepts cannot be learned from negative instances was disproved. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)