Premium
Inductive generalization in 9‐ and 11‐month‐olds
Author(s) -
McDonough Laraine,
Mandler Jean M.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
developmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.801
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1467-7687
pISSN - 1363-755X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-7687.00035
Subject(s) - generalization , imitation , psychology , domain (mathematical analysis) , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , computer science , mathematics , mathematical analysis
Using little models, we showed 9‐ and 11‐month‐old infants events in which animal or vehicle properties were demonstrated, such as a dog drinking from a cup or a car giving a ride. The infants were tested on imitation of these properties on the same exemplars as used for the modeling, on generalization to other exemplars from the same domain, and on generalization to exemplars from an inappropriate domain. Infants generalized the properties broadly to both typical and novel exemplars within the appropriate domain, and rarely to exemplars from the inappropriate domain. It is concluded that at least by 9 months infants have formed global concepts of animals and vehicles that control the way infants learn the characteristic properties of these classes.