Effect of causal structure on category construction

In four experiments, the question of how the causal structure of features a ffects the creation of new categories was examined. Features of exemplars t o be sorted were related in a single causal chain (causal chain), were caus ed by the same factor (common cause), or caused the same effect (common eff ect). The results showed that people are more likely to rely on common-caus e or common-effect background knowledge than on causal-chain background kno wledge in category construction. Such preferences suggest that the common-c ause or the common-effect structures are considered more natural conceptual structures.