TY - JOUR
T1 - Combining prototypes
T2 - A selective modification model
AU - Smith, Edward E.
AU - Osherson, Daniel N.
AU - Rips, Lance J.
AU - Keane, Margaret
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Susan Cqrey, Allan Collins, Dedre Gentner, David Israel, Michael Lipton, and Mary Potter for their many suggestions that helped shape this research. The research was supported by U.S. Public Health Service Grant MH37208 and by the National Institute of Education under Contract No. US-HEW-C-400-82-0030. Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Edward E. Smith, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 330 Packard Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.
PY - 1988
Y1 - 1988
N2 - We propose a model that accounts for how people construct prototypes for composite concepts out of prototypes for simple concepts. The first component of the model is a prototype representation for simple, noun concepts, such as fruit, which specifies: (1) the relevant attributes of the concepts, (2) the possible values of each attribute, (3) the salience of each value, and (4) the diagnosticity of each attribute. The second component of the model specifies procedures for modifying simple prototypes so that they represent new, composite concepts. The procedure for adjectival modification, as when red modifies fruit, consists of selecting the relevant attribute(s) in the noun concept (color), boosting the diagnosticity of that attribute, and increasing the salience of the value named by the adjective (red). The procedure for adverbial modification, as in very red fruit, consists of multiplication-by-o-scalar of the salience of the relevant value (red). The outcome of these procedures is a new prototype representation. The third component of the model is Tversky's (1977) contrast rule for determining the similarity between a representation for a prototype and one for an instance. The model is shown to be consistent with previous findings about prototypes in general, as well as with specific findings about typicality judgments for adjective-noun conjunctions. Four new experiments provide further detailed support for the model.
AB - We propose a model that accounts for how people construct prototypes for composite concepts out of prototypes for simple concepts. The first component of the model is a prototype representation for simple, noun concepts, such as fruit, which specifies: (1) the relevant attributes of the concepts, (2) the possible values of each attribute, (3) the salience of each value, and (4) the diagnosticity of each attribute. The second component of the model specifies procedures for modifying simple prototypes so that they represent new, composite concepts. The procedure for adjectival modification, as when red modifies fruit, consists of selecting the relevant attribute(s) in the noun concept (color), boosting the diagnosticity of that attribute, and increasing the salience of the value named by the adjective (red). The procedure for adverbial modification, as in very red fruit, consists of multiplication-by-o-scalar of the salience of the relevant value (red). The outcome of these procedures is a new prototype representation. The third component of the model is Tversky's (1977) contrast rule for determining the similarity between a representation for a prototype and one for an instance. The model is shown to be consistent with previous findings about prototypes in general, as well as with specific findings about typicality judgments for adjective-noun conjunctions. Four new experiments provide further detailed support for the model.
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U2 - 10.1016/0364-0213(88)90011-0
DO - 10.1016/0364-0213(88)90011-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0001554350
SN - 0364-0213
VL - 12
SP - 485
EP - 527
JO - Cognitive science
JF - Cognitive science
IS - 4
ER -