The influence of stimulus characteristics on category formation in infancy: Evidence that category distinctiveness influences the ability to parse objects into separate categories
Abstract
Two experiments utilizing familiarization-novelty preference procedures examined the way stimulus characteristics influenced the organizational structure infants imposed upon categories. In Experiment 1, 4-, 7-, and 10-month-old infants were familiarized with members of two basic-level categories from separate global domains (cats and cars) and tested with novel members of the familiar categories, each paired with members of perceptually similar categories (dogs and trucks). In Experiment 2, 7- and 10-month-old-infants were familiarized with members of two basic-level categories from the same global domain (cats and birds) and tested with novel members of the familiar categories, paired with members of perceptually similar categories (dogs and bats). In the separate-domain experiment, both 7- and 10-month-olds treated familiarization stimuli as members of two distinct categories, whereas the 4-month-olds treated all stimuli as members of a single, inclusive category. However, in the same-domain experiment, 10-month-olds treated familiarization stimuli as members of two separate categories, while younger infants treated the stimuli as members of a single inclusive category. The findings have implications for explanations of the processes underlying early categorization change and the way categorization development is best described.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Younger, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Developmental psychology|Cognitive therapy
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