Cue validity is the
conditional probability
In probability theory, conditional probability is a measure of the probability of an event occurring, given that another event (by assumption, presumption, assertion or evidence) has already occurred. This particular method relies on event B occur ...
that an object falls in a particular category given a particular feature or ''cue''. The term was popularized by , and especially by
Eleanor Rosch
Eleanor Rosch (once known as Eleanor Rosch Heider;"Natural Categories", Cognitive Psychology, Vol. 4, No. 3, (May 1973), p. 328. born 1938) is an American psychologist. She is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, s ...
in her investigations of the acquisition of so-called
''basic categories'' (;).
Definition of cue validity
Formally, the cue validity of a feature
with respect to category
has been defined in the following ways:
* As the conditional probability
; see , , .
* As the deviation of the conditional probability from the category base rate,
; see , .
* As a function of the linear correlation; see , , , .
* Other definitions; see , .
For the definitions based on probability, a high cue validity for a given feature means that the feature or attribute is more diagnostic of the class membership than a feature with low cue validity. Thus, a high-cue validity feature is one which conveys more information about the category or class variable, and may thus be considered as more useful for identifying objects as belonging to that category. Thus, high cue validity expresses high feature ''informativeness''. For the definitions based on linear correlation, the expression of "informativeness" captured by the cue validity measure is not the full expression of the feature's informativeness (as in
mutual information
In probability theory and information theory, the mutual information (MI) of two random variables is a measure of the mutual dependence between the two variables. More specifically, it quantifies the " amount of information" (in units such ...
, for example), but only that portion of its informativeness that is expressed in a linear relationship. For some purposes, a bilateral measure such as the
mutual information
In probability theory and information theory, the mutual information (MI) of two random variables is a measure of the mutual dependence between the two variables. More specifically, it quantifies the " amount of information" (in units such ...
or
category utility
Category utility is a measure of "category goodness" defined in and . It attempts to maximize both the probability that two objects in the same category have attribute values in common, and the probability that objects from different categories ha ...
is more appropriate than the cue validity.
Examples
As an example, consider the domain of "numbers" and allow that every number has an attribute (i.e., a ''cue'') named "
is_positive_integer
", which we call
, and which adopts the value 1 if the number is actually a positive
integer
An integer is the number zero (), a positive natural number (, , , etc.) or a negative integer with a minus sign (−1, −2, −3, etc.). The negative numbers are the additive inverses of the corresponding positive numbers. In the language ...
. Then we can inquire what the validity of this cue is with regard to the following classes: :
* If we know that a number is a positive integer we know that it is a
rational number
In mathematics, a rational number is a number that can be expressed as the quotient or fraction of two integers, a numerator and a non-zero denominator . For example, is a rational number, as is every integer (e.g. ). The set of all ration ...
. Thus,
, the cue validity for
is_positive_integer
as a cue for the category
rational number
is 1.
* If we know that a number is a positive integer then we know that it is ''not'' an
irrational number
In mathematics, the irrational numbers (from in- prefix assimilated to ir- (negative prefix, privative) + rational) are all the real numbers that are not rational numbers. That is, irrational numbers cannot be expressed as the ratio of two integ ...
. Thus,
, the cue validity for
is_positive_integer
as a cue for the category
irrational number
is 0.
* If we know only that a number is a positive integer, then its chances of being even or odd are 50-50 (there being the same number of even and odd integers). Thus,
, the cue validity for
is_positive_integer
as a cue for the category
even integer
is 0.5, meaning that the attribute
is_positive_integer
is entirely uninformative about the number's membership in the class
even integer
.
In
perception
Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...
, "cue validity" is often short for ''
ecological validity
In the behavioral sciences, ecological validity is often used to refer to the judgment of whether a given study's variables and conclusions (often collected in lab) are sufficiently relevant to its population (e.g. the "real world" context). Psycho ...
'' of a perceptual cue, and is defined as a correlation rather than a probability (see above). In this definition, an uninformative perceptual cue has an ecological validity of 0 rather than 0.5.
Use of the cue validity
In much of the work on modeling human category learning, there has been the assumption made (and sometimes validated) that attentional weighting tracks the cue validity, or tracks some related measure of feature informativeness. This would imply that attributes are differently weighted by the perceptual system; informative or high-cue validity attributes being weighted more heavily, while uninformative or low-cue validity attributes are weighted more lightly or ignored altogether (see, e.g., Navarro 1998).
References
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* {{Citation , last=Smedslund , first=Jan , title=Multiple-Probability Learning: An Inquiry into the Origins of Perception , publisher=Akademisk Forlag , location=
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, year=1955
Conditional probability
Cognitive science
Cognition