Evidence for Knowledge–Based Category Discrimination in Infancy

Abstract

Two studies examined whether infants' category discrimination in an object-examination task was based solely on an ad hoc analysis of perceptual similarities among the experimental stimuli. In Experiment 1A, 11-month-olds examined four different exemplars of one superordinate category (animals or furniture) twice, followed by a new exemplar of the familiar category and an exemplar of the contrasting category. Group A (N = 39) explored natural-looking toy replicas with low between-category similarity, whereas group B (N = 40) explored artificial-looking toy models with high between-category similarity. Experiment 1B (N = 40) tested a group of 10-month-olds with the same design. Experiment 1C (N = 20) reversed the order of test trials. For Experiment 2 (N = 20), the same artificial-looking toy animals as in Experiment 1 (group B) were used for familiarization), but no category change was introduced at the end of the session. Infants' responses varied systematically only with the presence of a category change, and not with the degree of between-category similarity. This supports the hypothesis that performance was knowledge based.

Naming influences 9-month-olds’ identification of discrete categories along a perceptual continuum

“…There are reasons to suspect that naming effects might be strongest with animate kinds: At 9 months, infants show greater interest for animate over inanimate entities (Ferguson, Graf, & Waxman, 2014; Legerstee, 1994; Sanefuji et al, 2011). Infants are especially attentive to animate-like features (Farroni et al, 2005; Gelman & Opfer, 2002; Molina, Van de Walle, Condry, & Spelke, 2004; Pauen, 2002; Poulin-Dubois, Crivello, & Wright, 2015; Rakison & Poulin-Dubois, 2001; Simion, Macchi Cassia, Turati, & Valenza, 2001; Träuble, Pauen, & Poulin-Dubois, 2014) and already form social categories (Kim, Johnson, & Johnson, 2015; Kinzler, Shutts, & Correll, 2010; Kinzler & Spelke, 2011; Quinn, Yahr, Kuhn, Slater, & Pascalis, 2002; Shutts, Kinzler, McKee, & Spelke, 2009; Waxman, 2013; Waxman & Grace, 2012). Therefore, in future work, it will be important to assess whether the effects observed here would hold up if the objects resembled artifacts, rather than animate objects.…”

“…There is now considerable evidence that infants successfully form object categories within the first months of life (Gliga, Mareschal, & Johnson, 2008; Quinn, 2006; Quinn & Bhatt, 2009; Quinn, Schyns, & Goldstone, 2006; Mandler, 2000, 2004; Pauen, 2002; Plunkett, Hu, & Cohen, 2008; Rakinson & Oakes, 2003; Rakison & Yevdokiya, 2010; Westermann & Mareschal, 2013). Moreover, recent evidence reveals that by well before they begin to speak, infants’ categorization is affected by language.…”

Examining the impact of collaborative tagging on sensemaking in nutrition management

“…They discuss the benefits of collaborative tagging in helping communities organize knowledge and coordinate action. Similarly, Pauen et al view tagging as sensemaking aid: "The act of assigning tags to categorize an object is an act of knowledge production as it makes apparent the mental models, or internal representations of knowledge, that one uses to associate with the object" [18].…”

Explicit and implicit confidence judgments and developmental differences in metamemory: an eye-tracking approach

“…For example, in the domain of understanding false belief (Clements and Perner 1994) and causality (Leslie and Keeble 1987), object permanence and identity (Baillargeon 1987;Spelke and Kestenbaum 1986), category discrimination (Pauen 2002), and simple mathematical calculations (Wynn 1992) implicit skills are assumed to be present before explicit and more fully developed proficiencies are measureable. In all these studies, young children's gaze patterns have been used as indicators of implicit, emerging abilities.…”