Department of Psychology and Center for Cognitive Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus 43210, USA.
Psychol Sci. 2012 Feb;23(2):178-86. doi: 10.1177/0956797611429133. Epub 2012 Jan 6.
How do words affect generalization, and how do these effects change during development? One theory posits that even early in development, linguistic labels function as category markers and thus are different from the features of the stimuli they represent. Another theory holds that early in development, labels are akin to other features, but that they may become category markers in the course of development. We addressed this issue in two experiments with 4- to 5-year-olds and adults. In both experiments, participants performed a categorization task (in which they predicted a category label) and an induction task (in which they predicted a missing feature). In the latter task, the category label was pitted against a highly salient feature, such that reliance on the label and reliance on the salient feature would result in different patterns of responses. Results indicated that children relied on the salient feature when performing induction, whereas many adults relied on the category label. These results suggest that early in development, labels are no more than features, but that they may become category markers in the course of development.
词汇如何影响泛化，这些影响在发展过程中是如何变化的？有一种理论假设，即使在发展早期，语言标签也起到类别标记的作用，因此与它们所代表的刺激特征不同。另一种理论认为，在发展的早期，标签类似于其他特征，但它们可能在发展过程中成为类别标记。我们在两个实验中对 4 到 5 岁的儿童和成年人进行了研究。在两个实验中，参与者都进行了分类任务（他们预测类别标签）和归纳任务（他们预测缺失的特征）。在后一个任务中，类别标签与一个高度显著的特征相对立，因此对标签的依赖和对显著特征的依赖会导致不同的反应模式。结果表明，儿童在进行归纳时依赖显著特征，而许多成年人依赖类别标签。这些结果表明，在发展的早期，标签只不过是特征，但它们可能在发展过程中成为类别标记。
