EFFECT OF WEIGHT OF FEATURE AND FREQUENCY ON RECOGNITION OF BUTTERFLYPATTERNS

Three experiments are reported which deal with the nature of categoriz ation of natural objects. Stimulus materials were schematic butterfly patterns. Systematic transformations were given to the original patter n to make stimulus instance. In Experiment 1, subjects were given a re cognition memory task with recognition ratings. Recognition ratings we re found to be related to family resemblance score (FRS: the sum of fe ature frequency in the category) rather than to transformation or subj ective similarity to the original. In Experiment 2, subjects were give n the recognition memory task while the FRS was kept constant. Weight of each feature affected recognition ratings differently, when FRS was kept constant. In Experiment 3, subjects were given the same task as in Experiment 2, while the FRS and the component frequency of each fea ture were kept constant. recognition ratings differently. These findin gs suggest that both the frequency and weight of feature itself affect recognition ratings.