ERIC Number: EJ730318
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2004-Mar
Pages: 36
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0010-0285
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Infants' Comprehension of Toy Replicas as Symbols for Real Objects
Younger, Barbara A.; Johnson, Kathy E.
Cognitive Psychology, v48 n2 p207-242 Mar 2004
Infants' understanding of "toy model-real exemplar" relations was assessed through preferential looking and habituation tasks. Results from the preferential looking task suggest that 18-month toddlers are just beginning to demonstrate comprehension of symbolic relations between iconic models and their real object counterparts. Performance of 10- and 14-month-old infants in the preferential looking task did not improve when across-domain pairs of videos were used in place of within-domain pairs. Habituation task results indicated that 10-month-olds do not comprehend symbolic relations between miniature toy replicas and their ''real'' counterparts, but that such understanding begins to emerge by age 14 months. Interactions between symbolic processing and early lexical development are considered, as are methodological implications for the study of infant categorization.
Descriptors: Toys, Infants, Habituation, Toddlers, Comprehension, Symbolic Learning, Models, Cognitive Measurement, Age Differences, Visual Stimuli, Cognitive Processes, Language Acquisition
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
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Author Affiliations: N/A