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On the relationship between category intensions and extensions in children
1National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|June 1, 1989
Summary
Children’s understanding of word meanings (category intensions and extensions) develops consistently but differently than adults. Existing theories don't explain this, suggesting a new exemplar-based model for natural language acquisition.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Understanding how children acquire natural language categories is crucial for developmental psychology and linguistics.
- Existing theories of category acquisition often focus on adult data, potentially overlooking developmental nuances.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between category intensions (definitions) and extensions (membership judgments) in children and adults.
- To contrast four prominent theories of natural language category acquisition.
- To propose a new model that better explains developmental patterns.
Main Methods:
- Participants (kindergarteners, second graders, fifth graders, college students) defined category terms and judged exemplar membership.
- Participants evaluated features of potential exemplars generated by themselves and adults.
- Adult judges validated exemplar features.
Main Results:
- Children demonstrated consistent intensions and extensions.
- Children's category extensions were smaller than adults'.
- Children generated more specific features than adults, a pattern not explained by existing theories.
Conclusions:
- Current theories of natural language category acquisition do not fully account for the observed developmental patterns.
- An exemplar-based model is proposed as a more suitable framework for explaining children's category acquisition.
- Further research into developmental aspects of semantic representation is warranted.