Membership to a category is based on how close something is to a prototype (typical/average member) for that category. Prototypes have high family resemblance.

Prototype Approach to Categorization

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

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Encompasses all of the possible examples of a concept. For example the category of dogs includes poodles, pugs and bulldogs. 

Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

Prototype

Larger more general categories and concepts are at the top and flow into smaller more specific subcategories and concepts creating a hierarchy.

Hierarchical organization

People can have brain damage where their memory is impaired, but only when trying to identify certain types of categories. For example, some patients with brain damage from encephalitis were able to remember non-animal objects (i.e. furniture and tools) but were not able to identify animals.

Category-specific memory impairment 

One way to categorize things is to separate them into artifacts (non-living) and living things.

Artifacts and Living things

- Sensory-functional (S-F) hypothesis
- Semantic category approach
- Multiple factor approach
- Crowding
- Embodied approach

Hypotheses about knowledge of categories and concepts in the brain

A person is trying to mentally group the following items: a car, a bus, a bicycle, and a skateboard. Which of the following statements best explains why 'Vehicles' is a more cognitively useful category for these items than 'Objects with wheels'?

The cognitive process by which concepts are sorted into categories. This process structures our experiences and enables us to give them greater personal meaning.

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