The Sequential Categorization-Identification Paradigm (SCIP): A Paradigm for the Concurrent Testing of Strong Hypotheses Regarding Psychological Representation and Processing

We present a new experimental paradigm intended to allow for acquisition of the data needed fortesting strong hypotheses regarding the nature of encoded representations and the real-timeprocessing of those representations using the same set of trials. The design is motivated by twoformal theories: general recognition theory (Ashby & Townsend, 1986), which addresses internalrepresentation, and systems factorial theory (Townsend & Nozawa, 1995), which addresses thefoundational characteristics of real-time processing. We show in the results of two experiments,one with very simple and a second with more complex stimuli, that this paradigm is capable ofproducing data that can allow for inferences regarding both representation and processing fromthe same set of trials and that those two sets of inferences can be found to be coherent with oneanother.