Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2010 Mar;46(2):350-65.
doi: 10.1037/a0018411.

The development of object categorization in young children: hierarchical inclusiveness, age, perceptual attribute, and group versus individual analyses

Marc H Bornstein  1 , Martha E Arterberry
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

The development of object categorization in young children: hierarchical inclusiveness, age, perceptual attribute, and group versus individual analyses

Marc H Bornstein et al. Dev Psychol. 2010 Mar.

Abstract

Multiple levels of category inclusiveness in 4 object domains (animals, vehicles, fruit, and furniture) were examined using a sequential touching procedure and assessed in both individual and group analyses in eighty 12-, 18-, 24-, and 30-month-olds. The roles of stimulus discriminability and child motor development, fatigue, and actions were also investigated. More inclusive levels of categorization systematically emerged before less inclusive levels, and a consistent advantage for categorizing high versus low perceptual contrasts was found. Group and individual analyses generally converged, but individual analyses added information about child categorization over group analyses. The development of object categorization in young children is discussed in light of efficiency of processing and similarity-differentiation theories.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Top: A child’s eye view of the objects in the categorization task. Bottom: An adult’s eye view of the objects in the categorization task.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Adolph KE, Berger SE. Physical and motor development. In: Bornstein MH, Lamb ME, editors. Developmental psychology: an advanced textbook. 5e. Erlbaum; Mahwah, NJ: 2005. pp. 223–282.
    1. Altman D, Machin D, Bryan T, Gardner S. Statistics with confidence: Confidence intervals and statistical guidelines. BMJ Books; London, UK: 2000.
    1. Atran S. Cognitive foundations of natural history: Towards an anthropology of science. Cambridge University Press; New York: 1990.
    1. Baldwin DA, Markman EM, Melartin EM. Infants’ ability to draw inferences about nonobvious object properties: evidence from exploratory play. Child Development. 1993;64:711–728. - PubMed
    1. Bauer PJ, Dow GA, Hertzgaard LA. Effects of prototypicality on categorization in 1- to 2-year-olds: Getting down to basic. Cognitive Development. 1995;10:43–68.

Publication types