Question

Which of the following is the best example of a limitation of the prototype theory of categorization?

1) An experiment conducted on bird categorization found that the reaction time to respond that a penguin is a bird was longer than the reaction time to respond that a robin is a bird.
2) When categorizing new information, frequent category members are categorized more quickly than atypical ones.
3) Some evidence suggests that the prototype theory can only explain the categorization of relatively complex objects.
4) It has been observed that our internal averaged representations of a category tend to be inconsistent over time.

Answer 1

The best indicator of a limitation in the prototype theory of categorization is that people take longer to categorize atypical category members like penguins as birds compared to typical members like robins, revealing an inefficiency in the categorization process.

Step-by-step explanation:

The best example of a limitation of the prototype theory of categorization is option 1: An experiment conducted on bird categorization found that the reaction time to respond that a penguin is a bird was longer than the reaction time to respond that a robin is a bird. This finding suggests a limitation in the prototype theory because prototypes are supposed to be the best examples or representations of a concept, aiding in quick and efficient categorization. However, when atypical members of a category, like penguins, take longer to be recognized as part of that category, it indicates that the theory does not account for variations within categories.

Option 4, which mentions that our internal averaged representations of a category being inconsistent over time, may also reflect a limitation of the prototype theory, though it is more related to the flexibility and changeability of our cognitive representations rather than the efficiency of the categorization process itself.