Semantics & Concepts (Chap 7)

Question 1

Concepts

Answer 1

Mental representations of categories of objects or items

Question 2

Classical Theory

Answer 2

Can be traced back to Aristotle
Prominently held until the 1970s

• concepts have to have definitional structure. Must have features that are NECESSARY and SUFFICIENT for membership in that class.

Question 3

Prototype Theory

Answer 3

Prototype theory says that concepts specify properties that members of a class tend to possess, rather than must possess

Question 4

Problems with classical theory

Answer 4

• Some concepts have fuzzy membership.

- Psychological experiments show no evidence for our using concepts as strict definitions.

Question 5

Problem with prototype theory

Answer 5

Doesn’t work with abstract concepts

Question 6

Exemplar Theory

Answer 6

individuals make category judgments by comparing new stimuli with instances already stored in memory
- exact match not found, closest thing is retrieved

Question 7

What is an exemplar?

Answer 7

The instance stored in memory

Question 8

Theory Theory

Answer 8

is a scientific theory relating to the human development of understanding about the outside world
- more emphasis placed on context

Question 9

Collins & Quinlan - Hierarchical Semantic Memory

Answer 9

Memory organised into hierarchical networks