Two experiments are reported in which four dependent variables; typicality
ratings, response times, category-naming frequencies, and exemplar-generati
on frequencies of natural language concepts, were predicted by two sorts of
prototype predictors and by all exemplar predictor related to Heit and Bar
salou's (1996) instantiation principle. In the first experiment, the exempl
ar predictor was compared to a prototype predictor calculated as in Hampton
(1979). The four dependent variables were either predicted better by the e
xemplar measure than by the prototype predictor or the predictive value was
about equal. In the second experiment, a new prototype predictor was calcu
lated based on Rosch and Mervis' (1975) classic family resemblance measure.
The results showed that the exemplar predictor accounted better for the de
pendent variables than Hampton's and Rosch and Mervis' prototype measures.
The differences between the prototype measures were not significant. (C) 20
00 Academic Press.