Abstract
In a series of experiments and reanalyses of previous research, we tested the hypothesis that categories that are primarily represented by extrinsic features (i.e., those that are relations between two or more entities) would yield more graded structures than would categories primarily represented by intrinsic features (i.e., those features true of an item considered in isolation). These predictions were confirmed. Extrinsically represented categories showed (1) less agreement across subjects on membership judgments, (2) more graded membership in a membership judgment task, and (3) smaller differences between gradients of typicality and of membership judgments
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Some of the ideas for this paper were developed while Robin A. Barr held an Albert J. Sloan Foundation Fellowship in Cognitive Science at the University of Pennsylvania. This research was partially supported by two research grants from Ball State University.
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Barr, R.A., Caplan, L.J. Category representations and their implications for category structure. Memory & Cognition 15, 397–418 (1987). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197730
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197730