Semantic feature-comparison model

The Semantic Feature Comparison Model is a theory pertaining to the representation of semantic relations in memory. The Sentence Verification task is used in which two nouns, a subject and a predicate, are presented and participants are required to make a semantic decision about them in the form of "An S is a P" verification. The results of the Sentence Verification task suggest that the speed of verification is dependent on the semantic distance between the subject and predicate. Semantic Feature Comparison Model is used “to derive predictions about categorization times in a situation where a subject must rapidly decide whether a test item is a member of a particular target category” (Smith et al, 1974, p. 215). When pressed with time, how do we make judgments and place items or events in particular categories? That is what the model tries to answer. As such, 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. For example, which is often used to explain this model, the statement a ‘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.