Abstract
Dominance and noncommutativity effects are investigated in relative clause descriptions of five conjunctive concepts (birds andpets, sports andgames, vehicles andmachines, office equipment andwriting implements, andshoes andsports equipment). Both asymmetry phenomena are studied at the extensional level (using membership ratings) and at the intensional level (using feature-importance ratings). A clear dominance effect was found for both the membership ratings and the feature-importance ratings, whereas the noncommutativit-y effect emerged only occasionally in the membership ratings and almost never in the feature-importance ratings. The data suggested that the dominance effect and the much weaker noncommutativity effect have an extensional basis.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Chater, N., Lyon, K., &Myers, T. (1990). Why are conjunctive categories overextended?Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,16, 497–508.
Clark, E. V., Gelman, S. A., &Lane, N. M. (1985). Compound nouns and category structure in young children.Child Development,56, 84–94.
Clark, H. H. (1983). Making sense of nonce sense. In G. B. Flores d'Arcais & R. Jarveila (Eds.),The process of understanding language (pp. 297–331). New York: Wiley.
Clark, H. H., &Marshall, C. R. (1981). Definite reference and mutual knowledge. In A. K. Joshi, B. L. Webber, & I. A. Sag (Eds.),Elements of discourse understanding (pp. 10–61). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Downing, P. (1977). On the creation and use of English compound nouns.Lenguage,53, 810–842.
Hampton, J. A. (1987). Inheritance of attributes in natural concept conjunctions.Memory & Cognition,15, 55–71.
Hampton, J. A. (1988). Overextension of conjunctive concepts: Evidence for a unitary model of concept typicality and class inclusion.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,14, 12–32.
Hampton, J. A., &Dubois, D., (1993). Psychological models of concepts: Introduction. In I. Van Mechelen, J. Hampton, R. S. Michalski, & P. Theuns (Eds.),Categories and concepts: Theoretical views and inductive data analysis (pp. 11–33). London: Academic Press.
Kirk, R. E. (1982).Experimental design: Procedures for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Kunda, Z., Miller, D. T., &Claire, T. (1990). Combining social concepts: The role of causal reasoning.Cognitive Science,14, 551–577.
Medin, D. L., &Shoben, E. J. (1988). Context and structure in conceptual combination.Cognitive Psychology,20, 158–190.
Murphy, G. L. (1988). Comprehending complex concepts.Cognitive Science,12, 529–562.
Shoben, E. J. (1991, May).Predicating and nonpredicating conceptual combinations. Paper presented at the meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
Smith, E. E.,&Osherson, D. N. (1984). Conceptual combination with prototype concepts.Cognitive Science,8, 357–361.
Smith, E. E., Osherson, D. N., Rips, L. J., &Keane, M. (1988). Combining prototypes: A selective modification model.Cognitive Science,12, 485–527.
Springer, K., &Murphy, G. L. (1992). Feature availability in conceptual combination.Psychological Science,3, 111–117.
Storms, G., Van Mechelen, I., & De Boeck, P. (1992).Structural analysis of the intension and extension of semantic concepts. Unpublished manuscript.
Wisniewski, E. J., &Gentner, D. (1991). On the combinatorial semantics of noun pairs: Minor andmajor adjustments. In G. B. Simpson (Ed.),Understanding word and sentence (pp. 241–284). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research project was supported by Grant 8.00.84.90 from the Belgian National Science Foundation (Fundamental Human Sciences) toP. De Boeck, I. Van Mechelen, and D. Geeraerts.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Storms, G., De Boeck, P., Van Mechelen, I. et al. Dominance and noncommutativity effects in concept conjunctions: Extensional or intensional basis?. Mem Cogn 21, 752–762 (1993). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202743
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202743