Prototypes and similarity: concept formation

The notion of similarity is fundamental to theories of perception, judgement, and learning. Two approaches to similarity are evaluated: (1) similarity based only on common features, and (b) similarity based on both similar and distinctive features. Events are represented by a set of attribute-value pairs. Each concept is defined in the form of a prototypical description that summarizes previously seen members. INC, an incremental conceptual clustering system, has been used as a tool for evaluating the proposed similarity measures