Elsevier

Cognitive Psychology

Volume 21, Issue 2, April 1989, Pages 156-184
Cognitive Psychology

Taxonomies and triads: Conceptual organization in one- to two-year-olds

https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(89)90006-6Get rights and content

Abstract

A tradition of research on conceptual development has suggested a shift from a thematic to a taxonomic basis of organization near the end of the preschool years. Recent research has demonstrated an increase in taxonomic responding in preschool-age subjects with provision of novel labels for to-be-classified targets. The effect is interpreted as the result of a cognitive constraint on the possible meanings of new words. In the present series of four experiments, 16- to 31-month-olds responded to a forced-choice object-triad task. Across the age range, subjects responded taxonomically at well above chance levels. Subjects as young as 16 months responded taxonomically 72% of the time on basic-level triads; subjects as young as 19 months responded taxonomically 87% of the time on both basic- and superordinate-level triads. The already high rate of taxonomic responding was not affected by novel labels. In control experiments, subjects demonstrated familiarity with the thematic associates depicted in the test triads. In all four experiments, nonverbal reinforcement was used to unambiguously convey task instructions and to remind subjects of them on each trial. We suggest that verbal labels may accomplish the same end for older preschoolers. Thus, the effect of labeling, rather than being language specific, may be a more general effect of reminding subjects of the requirements of the task.

References (28)

  • J. Dore
  • L. Fenson et al.

    Role of perceptual and conceptual similarity in category matching at age two years

    Child Development

    (1988)
  • L. Fenson et al.

    Children's knowledge of taxonomic and thematic relationships at two years of age

    (1987)
  • D.B. Greenfield et al.

    Young children's preference for complementary pairs: Evidence against a shift to a taxonomic preference

    Developmental Psychology

    (1986)
  • Cited by (0)

    This research was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Network on the Transition from Infancy to Early Childhood and by NSF research Grants BNS-8109657 and BNS-8510218 to Jean M. Mandler. The data from Experiment 1 were presented as “What's in a name? Novel labels and taxonomic classification by 16- and 20-month-olds,” SRCD, Baltimore, Maryland, April, 1987.

    View full text