Department of Psychology, New York University, USA.
Department of Psychology, New York University, USA.
Cogn Psychol. 2019 May;110:1-15. doi: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2018.12.004. Epub 2019 Jan 21.
People often think of categories in terms of their most representative examples (e.g., robin for BIRD). Thus, determining which exemplars are most representative is a fundamental cognitive process that shapes how people use concepts to navigate the world. The present studies (N = 669; ages 5 years - adulthood) revealed developmental change in this important component of cognition. Studies 1-2 found that young children view exemplars with extreme values of characteristic features (e.g., the very fastest cheetah) as most representative of familiar biological categories; the tendency to view average exemplars in this manner (e.g., the average-speeded cheetah) emerged slowly across age. Study 3 examined the mechanisms underlying these judgments, and found that participants of all ages viewed extreme exemplars as representative of novel animal categories when they learned that the variable features fulfilled category-specific adaptive needs, but not otherwise. Implications for developmental changes in conceptual structure and biological reasoning are discussed.
人们通常根据最具代表性的例子来对类别进行思考（例如，知更鸟之于鸟）。因此，确定哪些示例最具代表性是一种基本的认知过程，它塑造了人们如何使用概念来驾驭世界。本研究（N=669；年龄 5 岁-成年）揭示了这一重要认知成分的发展变化。研究 1-2 发现，年幼的孩子认为具有特征极端值的示例（例如，速度最快的猎豹）最能代表熟悉的生物类别；而以这种方式看待平均示例的趋势（例如，速度中等的猎豹）则随着年龄的增长而缓慢出现。研究 3 考察了这些判断的潜在机制，发现所有年龄段的参与者在了解到可变特征满足特定类别的适应性需求时，都会将极端示例视为新动物类别的代表，而在其他情况下则不会。讨论了这些发现对概念结构和生物推理发展变化的影响。
