Provides a portrait of the structure of the categories and tests the correlation between family resemblance and prototypicality of items. (Author)

Three studies examined two-year olds' understanding of novel terms for objects that they are already familiar with under another name. The studies found that the new term was most likely to be treated as a second basic-level name for the category to which the object belonged. (MDM)

Although it is now well established that object concepts are situated within broader systems of theoretical knowledge, it is less clear how theories influence the use of object concepts at various points throughout the continuum of expertise. Two studies were conducted to investigate the impact of specific theories (concerning dinosaurs) and…

Investigation into the relative effectiveness of four input strategies for two-year-olds' (N=56) category evolution found that the most effective strategy involved labelling an object and providing both a physical demonstration and a verbal description of important attributes. (Author/CB)

Conducted among children of three different age levels, Experiment I tested the hypothesis that categorization ability is acquired in the following order: basic, superordinate, subordinate. Experiments II and III tested among adults the hypothesis that the greater the differentiation of categories at a given hierarchical level, the earlier…

Undertaken within the framework of the best example theory of categorization, this study investigates category acquisition as a function of initial exposure to only good exemplars and as a function of exposure to single as opposed to multiple exemplars. Six severely handicapped children, ranging in age from 8 to 18 years, participated. (Author/MP)

The evolution of young children's categories, as measured by category name production, was studied. Results indicated that four sequences of category evolution were found, formed by the intersection of two factors: overlap vs. mutual exclusivity and first re-assignment separate vs. first re-assignment joint. (26 references) (Author/CB)

Acquisition of the novel name-nameless category (N3C) principle by 22 toddlers with Down syndrome was studied. Results indicated that the ability to fast map a new word to a category is not available at the start of lexical acquisition. Children who used the N3C principle had larger productive vocabularies than others and had begun to acquire new…

Investigated two developmental implications: (1) that foci for color categories become established and stabilized earlier than boundaries, and (2) that focal judgments are always more stable than boundary judgments. Subjects were 20 kindergarteners, 40 third graders and 40 adults. (Author/SDH)

A study concerned with factors that may affect three-year olds' acquisition of subordinate categories considered salience of the attribute or attributes that differentiate a subordinate category, presence or absence of linguistic input, and child characteristics. Correlational analyses pointed to a series of relationships between child…

Two types of operating principles thought to play an important role in early lexical development are discussed. The principles are those concerned with: (1) assignment of reference or meaning to words; and (2) formation and evolution of categories. Discussion also addresses related issues, such as the developmentally important relationship between…

The results of two experiments showed that five year olds can learn to solve class-inclusion problems if they are forced to consider the contradiction between their incorrect answers and their correct counting of the superordinate and subordinate classes. (JMB)

Two implications of best-example theory for category acquisition were tested using a set of artificial concrete object categories. Categories acquired from initial exposure to good exemplars were learned more easily and accurately. People learn the best exemplars are category members before learning the poor exemplars are category members.…

The learning of categories by six severely handicapped students (8 to 18 years old) was measured within the context of manual sign training. As expected, results supported the best example theory of categorization which suggests that some objects are more representative of their category than others. Implications for classroom material selection…

The acquisition of labels for concrete objects is considered. Issues concerning the initial acquisition of a word to refer to an object or object concept, the actual words initally acquired, the relationship between the initial categories underlying children's early object names and corresponding adult categories, and implications of the research…