Decision-bound models of categorization like General Recognition
Theory (GRT: Ashby & Townsend, 1986) assume that
people divide a stimulus space into different response regions,
associated with different categorization decisions. These models
have traditionally been applied to empirical data using standard
model-fitting methods like maximum likelihood estimation.
We implement the GRT as a Bayesian latent mixture
model to infer both qualitative individual differences in the
types of decision bounds people use, and quantitative differences
in where they place the bounds. We apply this approach
to a previous data set with two category structures tested under
different cognitive loads. Our results show that different participants
categorize by applying diagonal, vertical, or horizontal
decision bounds. Various types of contaminant behavior are
also found, depending on the category structures and presence
or absence of load. We argue that our Bayesian latent mixture
framework offers a powerful approach to studying individual
differences in categorization.