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Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization
Published on: April 19, 2017
Infants' developing appreciation of similarities between model objects and their real-world referents
Barbara A Younger1, Kathy E Johnson
1Purdue University, Department of Psychological Sciences, 703 Third Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2081, USA. youngerr@purdue.edu
Child Development
|November 17, 2006
Summary
Infants develop model competence later in development, with count noun knowledge being crucial for understanding symbolic representation. Reducing dual representation demands aids early symbol-to-referent mapping in toddlers.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Developmental Psychology
- Symbolic Understanding
Background:
- Model competence, the ability to understand and use symbolic representations, is thought to emerge late in infancy.
- Key developmental areas supporting model competence include count noun learning, dual representation, and categorization.
- Previous studies indicate this competence appears between 20-26 months.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically analyze the development of model competence in infants.
- To investigate the roles of count noun learning, dual representation, and categorization in supporting model competence.
- To determine the age of emergence for these foundational skills.
Main Methods:
- An object-handling preferential looking task was employed to assess infants' abilities.
- Participants included infants aged 14-26 months.
- Tasks were designed to manipulate dual representation demands and assess count noun knowledge.
Main Results:
- 21- to 26-month-olds successfully matched model objects to referents only when they possessed strong count noun knowledge.
- 20-month-olds with limited count noun vocabulary succeeded in relating symbols to referents when dual representation demands were lowered using pictures.
- Changes in infants' categorization of model objects were observed between 14 and 20 months.
Conclusions:
- Count noun knowledge is a critical factor for the emergence of model competence.
- Dual representation challenges can impede early symbolic understanding, but can be overcome by simplifying the task.
- Foundational skills for model competence develop progressively throughout the second year of life.
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