Prototypicality norms for 28 semantic categories

Abstract

The extent to which an item is a prototypical exemplar of a category has been found to predict several experimental results (e.g., reaction times in category classification, free and cued recall of lists, release from proactive inhibition in recall). We present prototypicality ratings for 840 words, equally distributed over 28 categories. The categories were taken from Battig and Montague's (1969) normative tables; only those categories that contained "concrete" items in common usage were employed in the study. Intragroup reliability correlations were high for all categories tested, as were the correlations for prototypicality ratings between the present study and that of Rosch (1975). In addition, correlations between prototypicality ratings, production frequencies, and word frequencies of the items are given. © 1980 Psychonomic Society, Inc.