The influence of knowledge in 14- and 18 -month -old infants' attention to object part -function correlations
Abstract
This study addressed the influence of infants' knowledge of object parts and their corresponding functions on their attention to form-function correlations. It was hypothesized that, with increased age, infants would be more likely to attend selectively to correlations that are “meaningful” and to ignore those that are spurious or arbitrary. Fourteen- and 18-month-old infants were habituated to animated displays depicting one meaningful and one arbitrary form-function correlation. Infants were tested with novel stimuli that either maintained or violated the form-function correlations. Although both age groups showed a significant decline in looking across the habituation trials, neither age group demonstrated sensitivity to either the meaningful or arbitrary correlations. A number of methodological and conceptual factors that may have contributed to this outcome are discussed. Though unexpected, the results highlight important methodological issues and provide interesting hypotheses to consider in future investigations.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Younger, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Developmental psychology|Cognitive therapy
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