Impact of varying levels of expertise on decisions of category typicality

Abstract

Experts on domains of basic level object categories possess extensive knowledge of features used to both individuate and categorize groups of similar members. Two studies were conducted to determine the impact of high knowledge on intermediate and advanced experts' typicality decisions for basic and subordinate level category exemplars, and to investigate whether the pattern of influence of factors (in particular, central tendency and subjective familiarity) remained fixed throughout the continuum of expertise. Example goodness increased as a function of the level of specificity of the category for which typicality was rated. Subjective familiarity was the principal determinant of typicality for individuals with high knowledge, whereas central tendency was related to typicality when knowledge was not particularly high. Advanced and intermediate experts produced similar ratings of typicality, indicating that individuals' decisions of typicality do not change markedly once intermediate levels of competency have been attained. The incorporation of knowledge effects into models of semantic memory, as well as interactions among knowledge, psychological factors, and environmental factors in determining typicality, are discussed.