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Perceptual categorization at the basic level is generally faster than categorization at more superordinate or subordinate level [Rosch, E., Mervis, C. B., Gray, W. D., Johnson, D. M., & Boyes-Braem, P. (1976). Basic objects in natural categories. Cognitive Psychology, 8(3), 382–439]. But, what does it mean to be fastest? One possibility is that levels of abstraction that are categorized fastest are processed first. In this vein, the basic level is often considered the “entry level” into our knowledge about categories in the world [Jolicoeur, P., Gluck, M. A., & Kosslyn, S. M. (1984). Pictures and names: Making the connection. Cognitive Psychology, 16(2), 243–275]. We tested this “fastest means first” hypothesis by contrasting the time course of basic- and subordinate-level categorization of objects in a signal-to-respond experiment. This method probes subjects to respond at systematically varying points in time after the onset of …