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Young children category learning: a training study

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Abstract

From an integrative approach, this work focuses on the role of conceptual mechanisms, such as comparison and conceptual-based inference, and sociopragmatic support in young children's taxonomic categorization. “Experiment 1” assessed whether 3-, 4-, and 6-year-old children succeed in detecting taxonomic relations on their own. A clear developmental trend was found: 6-year-olds succeeded, whereas 4- and 3-year-olds relied primarily on perceptually based categories. “Experiment 2” assessed if 3-year-olds are able to change their perceptual response into a taxonomic categorization as a function of the co-occurrence of contingent category information and feedback in an interactive process with an adult (experimenter). A pretest–posttest training study compared 3-year-olds' performance in four conditions: comparison, conceptual-based, information-only, and feedback-only. A perceptual–totaxonomic shift was found only in the comparison and conceptual-based training groups. Children who only received either category information or corrective feedback did not make such a shift. The results show that social interaction with supportive adults is a mechanism that drives conceptual understanding in early childhood.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a Doctoral Fellowship from the National Research Council of Argentina to the first author and by Grant PIP 1099 from the National Research Council and Grant PICT 01754 from the National Agency of Scientific Promotion to the second author. We are grateful to the institutions and children who participated in this research. We also want to thank Georgene Troseth and the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions on earlier drafts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Council, Rosario, Argentina

    Andrea Sabina Taverna & Olga Alicia Peralta

Authors
  1. Andrea Sabina Taverna
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  2. Olga Alicia Peralta
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Correspondence to Olga Alicia Peralta.

Additional information

Olga Alicia Peralta. Professor of Educational Psychology-Scientific Researcher Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) (National Research Council) Argentina Address: Instituto Rosario de Investigación en Ciencias de la Educación (IRICE) (Rosario Institute for Research in Sciences of Education) 27 de Febrero 210 bis, 2000, Rosario, Argentina. Phone: +54-341-4821770, extension 204. E-mail: peralta@irice-conicet.gov.ar

Current themes of research:

Symbolic and conceptual development in young children. Social interaction. Cognitive development.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

PERALTA, O. A. (1995). Developmental changes and socioeconomic differences in mother–infant picturebook reading, European Journal of Psychology of Education, 3, 261–272.

PERALTA, O. A. (1997). Estilos de interacción cognitiva materno-infantil en una situación de resolución de problemas en función del nivel socioeconómico y de la edad del niño. (Mother–child cognitive interaction styles in a problem-solving situation as a function of socioeconomic status and child’s age). Infancia y Aprendizaje, 80, 85–90.

PERALTA, O.A. and SALSA, A. (2003). Instruction in early in early comprehension and use of a symbol-referent relation. Cognitive Development, 1 (2), 269–284.

SALSA, A. and PERALTA, O. A. (2007). Routes to Symbolization: Intentionality and Correspondence in Early Understanding of Pictures. Journal of Cognition and Development, 8 (1), 79–92. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. NJ-London.

PERALTA, O. and MAITA, M. (2010). El Impacto de la Instrucción en la Comprensión Temprana de un Mapa como Objeto Simbólico (The impact of Instruction in the early comprehension of a map as a symbolic object). Infancia y Aprendizaje. Madrid.

PERALTA, O. y SALSA, A. (2011) Instrucción y desarrollo en la comprensión temprana de fotografías como objetos simbólicos (Instruction and development in early comprehension of photographs as symbolic objects). Anales de Psicología, 27 (1), 118–125. Murcia.

MAITA, M. y PERALTA, O. (in press). La enseñanza materna de la función simbólica de un objeto (Maternal teaching of a symbolic function of an object). Cultura y Educación., 24 (3).

Andrea Sabina Taverna. Post Doctoral Student Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) (National Research Council) Argentina Address: Instituto Rosario de Investigación en Ciencias de la Educación (IRICE) (Rosario Institute for Research in Sciences of Education) 27 de Febrero 210 bis, 2000, Rosario, Argentina. Phone: 54 341 4821770 extension 204. E-mail: taverna@irice-conicet.gov.ar

Current themes of research:Conceptual development in young children. Social interaction. and Cognitive development.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

TAVERNA, A. and PERALTA. O. (2009). Desarrollo conceptual: Perspectivas actuales en la adquisición temprana de conceptos. Conceptual development: current approaches to children’s early concepts acquisition. Psykhe, 18 (1), 49–59.

TAVERNA, A. and PERALTA. O. (2010). Rutas hacia la Formación del Significado de las Palabras. Naturaleza, Experiencia, Construcción y Contexto (Routes towards word meaning. Nature, experience, construction and context). Estudios de Psicología.

TAVERNA, A. y PERALTA, O. (2012). Comparación e Inferencia en la Categorización de Artefactos No-familiares. Un Estudio con Niños Pequeños (Comparison and inference in the categorization of non-familiar artifacts). Psykhé, 21 (1), 21–36.

Appendices

Appendix A

Table 2 List of items in “Experiment 2”
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Appendix B

Table 3 List of vignettes in “Experiment 2”
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Taverna, A.S., Peralta, O.A. Young children category learning: a training study. Eur J Psychol Educ 28, 599–617 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-012-0130-9

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