Final answer:
Evidence for exemplar theory includes the fact that recent exposure to an exemplar increases categorization accuracy and that prototypes can change over time, indicating reliance on multiple exemplars rather than static prototypes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question addresses evidence for exemplar theory, a psychological theory related to cognition and how people categorize objects and information. Exemplar theory suggests that individuals categorize new stimuli by comparing them against stored examples (exemplars) rather than by measuring them against an idealized prototype. Let's explore the evidence options provided:
- Recent exposure to an exemplar increases accuracy in categorization of that object. This aligns with the availability heuristic, suggesting that recent and easily recalled exemplars are more influential in categorization.
- Having more exemplars for a specific object increases categorization time. This could be evidence for exemplar theory since it implies that each exemplar is compared which takes time.
- It takes less time to categorize an object that is closer to one's internal average. This could be seen as contradictory to exemplar theory, which doesn't rely on an average or prototype.
- Prototypes have been shown to change from week to week, lacking stability over time. If prototypes are unstable, this could support exemplar theory as it suggests reliance on multiple, specific exemplars rather than a single prototype.
Of these options, both the first and fourth points serve as evidence for exemplar theory, supporting the idea that multiple examples are used for categorization and that prototypes are not static.