Typicality and Basic Level: No Constraints on the Basic Level Category Advantage

Abstract

In the studies of categorization it was assumed that two important effects  typicality and basic level  are connected in such a way that typical members are recognized at the basic level and atypical members are recognized at the subordinate levels. The results of two experiments described in the paper show that the pattern of interaction between typicality and basic level effect is more complex than it was supposed before. It is proposed to explain the effects in terms of activation of correspondent concept in the conceptual system of a person that makes NN the most plausible alternative for semantic memory modelling.