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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 22, 2026

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

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

Kinship categories across languages reflect general communicative principles.

Charles Kemp¹, Terry Regier

¹Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. ckemp@cmu.edu

Science (New York, N.Y.)

|May 26, 2012

Summary

Kinship classification systems across languages balance simplicity and informative communication. This study reveals a near-optimal trade-off between these principles, explaining constraints in how languages categorize family relationships.

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Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 22, 2026

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

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

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

Area of Science:

Linguistic Anthropology
Computational Linguistics
Cognitive Science

Background:

Kinship categories exhibit variation across languages, yet this variation is constrained.
Prior explanations for these constraints often focus on kinship-specific rules, lacking general applicability.

Purpose of the Study:

To propose a domain-general account for constraints in kinship classification systems.
To demonstrate that simplicity and informativeness are key principles governing these systems.

Main Methods:

Computational analysis of kinship classification systems worldwide.
Modeling the trade-off between category simplicity and communication informativeness.

Main Results:

Kinship systems achieve a near-optimal balance between simplicity and informativeness.
The proposed principles explain previously identified constraints in kin classification.

Conclusions:

Simplicity and informativeness offer a domain-general foundation for understanding variation in category systems.
These principles may apply to semantic domains beyond kinship.