Chapter 8

Organized knowledge about the world

ex. Mangua is the capital of Nicaragua

It contains information about events that happen to one

A set of objects that belong together

ex. fruit

Mental representations of objects of a category

Concepts are stored in memory according to a list of necessary features or characteristics

Ex.Cats- has fur, has four legs, meows, has a tail, chases mice

Ex.A poodle is a dog, squirrel is an animal, a flower is rock, carrot is a vegetable

Does not explain relations between item but shows similarities and list of features and assumes everything is independant of each other

Attributes that are necessary to the meaning of the item

Ex. Robin- it is living and has feathers and a red breast

Attributes that are merely descriptive

Ex. Robin- it flies, perches on trees and small

People use simple sentences and must use semantic knowledge to determine whether the sentence is true or false

Reserchers use reaction time

People make decisions faster when an item is a typical member of a category, rather than an unusual member

Ex. Carrot is a vegatable/Rutabaga is a vegetable

An item that is most typical and representative of the category

• -Deciding if an item belongs with a catagory by comparing that item with a prototype
• -If the item is similar to the prototype, one can say that the item is in the category

Degree to which it is prototypcial

Ex. Robin and Sparrow are prototypical

Ex. Ostriches and Penguins are nonprotypes

-Supplied as examples of a category

-Prototypes are judged more quickly after semantic priming- response after item has similar meaning

-Prototypes share attributes in a family resemblance categoryi