POLYMORPHOUS CONCEPTS IN SEMANTIC MEMORY

Two experiments tested a set of predictions derived from Smith, Shoben, and Rips' (1974) Characteristic Feature Hypothesis and two-stage categorization model. Experiment I elicited category definitions from subjects, and Experiment II measured categorization latencies. Neither a strong version of Smith et al.'s theory, which assumes that defining features are common to all category members, nor a weaker version, were well supported by the results. It is argued that an alternative feature-based model of category definitions, using the notion of a Polymorphous concept, can account for the results without making the distinction between defining and characteristic features, on which Smith et al.'s model relies. © 1979 Academic Press, Inc.