[Developmental changes in typicality judgement of natural concept exemplars: differences between 4-year-olds,...

Four-year-olds, 6-year-olds, and undergraduates were asked to judge typicality of exemplars from natural categories by means of paired comparison in order to examine developmental changes in typicality of the exemplars. The data were analyzed by MDPREF, a computer program for multidimensional analysis of preference data. The results showed that (1) individual differences in typicality judgement decreased with age, (2) typicality of exemplars judged by 4-year-olds was rather similar to that by undergraduates, but (3) there were certain exemplars that revealed difference in typicality by age. Configurations of stimuli obtained by MDPREF were further submitted to the multiple regression analysis with the ratings of stimuli by Semantic Differential technique. This analysis showed some differences between children and undergraduates concerning the basis of typicality judgement.