WORDS AS FEATURE COMPLEXES - FALSE RECOGNITION OF ANTONYMS AND SYNONYMS

79 undergraduates indicated whether or not each item in a 240-word list, presented orally, had occurred previously. There were significantly more false recognition errors for (1) antonyms and (2) synonyms of preceding words than for control items matched with 1 and 2 for strength of associative relation to preceding words. There was no difference between the antonym and synonym conditions. These findings support the view that a word is understood and stored in memory as a complex of features or attributes, systematic errors occurring when information on some feature(s) is lost. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.