The '''Semanticsemantic Featurefeature Comparisoncomparison Modelmodel''' is used "to derive [[prediction]]s about [[categorization]] times in a situation where a subject must rapidly decide whether a test item is a member of a particular target category".<ref name=smith>Smith, E. E., Shoben. E. J., and Rips, L. J. (1974). Structure and Process in Semantic Memory: A Feature Model for Semantic Decisions. Psychological Review, 81(3), 214–241.</ref> In this [[semantic model]], there is an assumption that certain occurrences are categorized using its features or attributes of the two subjects that represent the part and the group. A statement often used to explain this model is '"a [[European Robinrobin|robin]] is a bird'". The meaning of the words ''robin'' and ''bird'' are stored in the memory by virtue of a list of features which can be used to ultimately define their categories, although the extent of their association with a particular category varies.
==History==
This model was conceptualized by Edward Smith, Edward Shoben and Lance Rips in 1974 after they derived various observations from semantic verification experiments conducted at the time. Respondents merely have to answer '"true'" or '"false'" to given sentences. Out of these experiments, they observed that people respond faster when (1) statements are true, (2) nouns are members of smaller categories, (3) items are '"typical'" or commonly associated with the category (also called prototypes), and (4) items are primed by a similar item previously given ([[University of Alaska Anchorage]], n.d.). In the latter item, respondents will respond faster to the latter statement since the category bird has been primed. Based on the previous observations, the proponents were able to come up with the Semanticsemantic Featurefeature Comparisoncomparison Modelmodel.<ref name=smith/>
