On the representation of meanings of general terms

Richard C. Anderson, Barry McGaw

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Describes 3 experiments in which undergraduates (N = 76) and graduate students (N = 84) were exposed to sentences containing general terms and then attempted to recall the last word of each sentence given single-word retrieval cues. Among 2 matched low associates of a general term, the cue referring to a case that resembled the most probable exemplar of the category named by the general term evoked the greater recall. Results seem to indicate that people use exemplars to represent the meanings of general terms, supporting an imagery theory of meaning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)301-306
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Experimental Psychology
Volume101
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1973

Keywords

  • sentences containing general terms, recalling last word given single word retrieval cues, college students

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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