Synonym comprehension and the generality of categorization models

Abstract

When subjects classify a two-word display as representing the "same" category or two "different" categories, semantic similarity between the words facilitates "same" decisions but impedes "different" decisions. The present research investigated whether the similarity effect observed for categorization would also be found in synonym comprehension; that is, the task of deciding whether two words are or are not synonymous. Experiment 1 found that an increase in semantic similarity between two "partial" synonyms facilitated synonym response latency. Experiment 2 found that an increase in the similarity between two nonsynonyms impeded nonsynonym response latency. Thus, the similarity effect on categorization latency and on synonym comprehension resemble each other. Moreover, models of the categorization process that account for the similarity effect on categorization appear to be applicable to synonym comprehension. © 1978 Psychonomic Society, Inc.