Document Detail


What makes relational reasoning smart? Revisiting the perceptual-to-relational shift in the development of generalization.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  19120419     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Development of reasoning is often depicted as involving increasing use of relational similarities and decreasing use of perceptual similarities ('the perceptual-to-relational shift'). We argue that this shift is a special case of a broader developmental trend: increasing sensitivity to the predictive accuracy of different similarity types. To test this hypothesis, we asked participants (3-, 4-, 5-year-olds and adults) to generalize novel information on two types of problems--offspring problems, where relational matches yield accurate generalizations, and prey problems, where perceptual matches yield accurate generalizations. On offspring problems, we replicated prior findings of increasing relational matches with age. However, we observed decreasing relational matches on prey problems. Provided feedback on their responses, 3-year-olds showed the same trend. Findings suggest that the relational shift commonly observed in categorization and analogical reasoning may reflect a general increase in children's sensitivity to cue validity rather than an overall preference to generalize over perceptual similarity.
Authors:
Megan J Bulloch; John E Opfer
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Developmental science     Volume:  12     ISSN:  1467-7687     ISO Abbreviation:  Dev Sci     Publication Date:  2009 Jan 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2009-01-05     Completed Date:  2009-02-19     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9814574     Medline TA:  Dev Sci     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  114-22     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, USA.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Child Development / physiology*
Child, Preschool
Cognition / physiology
Concept Formation / physiology*
Female
Generalization (Psychology) / physiology*
Humans
Male
Perception / physiology*
Problem Solving / physiology*
Young Adult

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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