Form Follows Function: Learning about Function Helps Children Learn about Shape

Autor/inn/en	Ware, Elizabeth A.; Booth, Amy E.
Titel	Form Follows Function: Learning about Function Helps Children Learn about Shape
Quelle	In: Cognitive Development, 25 (2010) 2, S.124-137 (14 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0885-2014
DOI	10.1016/j.cogdev.2009.10.003
Schlagwörter	Infants; Novelty (Stimulus Dimension); Classification; Role; Bias + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Infant; Toddler; Toddlers; Kleinkind; Classification system; Klassifikation; Klassifikationssystem; Rollen
Abstract	Object functions help young children to organize new artifact categories. However, the scope of their influence is unknown. We explore whether functions highlight property dimensions that are relevant to artifact categories in general. Specifically, using a longitudinal training procedure, we assessed whether experience with functions highlights shape as important for categorization. Seventeen-month-olds were provided experience with novel categories of similarly shaped objects. In Study 1, the function group learned about the objects' shape-based functions; a control group did not. In Study 2, 17-month-olds were trained on the same categories, but the objects' shapes and functions were no longer causally related. Only the function group in Study 1 subsequently used shape reliably when categorizing novel objects. These results suggest that function is instrumental in establishing a "shape bias" in early categorization and that it does so via conceptually based processes. (Contains 2 figures and 1 table.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10