Structure mapping and relational language support children's learning of relational categories

Child Dev. 2011 Jul-Aug;82(4):1173-88. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01599.x. Epub 2011 May 11.

Abstract

Learning relational categories--whose membership is defined not by intrinsic properties but by extrinsic relations with other entities--poses a challenge to young children. The current work showed 3-, 4- to 5-, and 6-year-olds pairs of cards exemplifying familiar relations (e.g., a nest and a bird exemplifying home for) and then tested whether they could extend the relational concept to another category (e.g., choose the barn as a home for a horse). It found that children benefited from (a) hearing a (novel) category name in a relational construction and (b) comparing category members. The youngest group--3-year-olds--learned the category only when given a combination of relational language and a series of comparisons in a progressive alignment sequence.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Child
  • Child Language*
  • Child, Preschool
  • Concept Formation*
  • Humans
  • Language Development*
  • Learning*
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Psychological Tests