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http://dx.doi.org/10.5723/csdc.2012.2.2.077

Do Simple Objects Facilitate Infants' Formation of a Spatial Category?  

Park, You-Jeong (Cornell University)
Casasola, Marianella (Cornell University)
Kim, Jin-Wook (Seoul National University)
Publication Information
Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts / v.2, no.2, 2012 , pp. 77-90 More about this Journal
Abstract
The present study investigated infants' ability to form a category of a support relation (i.e., "on") when the objects depicting the relation were perceptually simple versus more complex. Twenty Korean infants of 14 months were habituated to dynamic support events with objects that were either simple or more complex in appearance. They were then tested with events that differed from the habituation events in the specific objects, spatial relation, or both. Infants formed a support category whether familiarized to simple or complex objects, looking significantly longer at test events with a novel than familiar relation. The results indicate that at 14 months of age, object features do not impact infants' ability to form a categorical representation of support.
Keywords
categorization; simplicity; generalization; object features; spatial cognition;
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