ERIC Number: EJ730242
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2004-Mar
Pages: 18
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0010-0277
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Available Date: N/A
Infants Chunk Object Arrays into Sets of Individuals
Feigenson, Lisa; Halberda, Justin
Cognition, v91 n2 p173-190 Mar 2004
Research suggests that, using representations from object-based attention, infants can represent only 3 individuals at a time. For example, infants successfully represent 1, 2, or 3 hidden objects, but fail with 4 ("Developmental Science" 6 (2003) 568), and a similar limit is seen in adults' tracking of multiple objects (see "Cognitive Psychology" 38 (1999) 259). In the present experiments we used a manual search procedure to ask whether infants can overcome this limit of 3 by chunking individuals into sets. Experiments 1 and 2 replicate infants' failure to represent a total of 4 objects. We then show that infants can exceed this limit when items are spatiotemporally grouped into two sets of 2 prior to hiding, leading infants to successfully represent a total of 4 objects. Experiment 3 demonstrates that infants tracked the 4 objects as two sets of 2, searching for each set in its correct hiding location. That infants represented the number of individuals in each set is demonstrated by their reaching for the correct number of objects in each location. These results suggest that by binding individuals into sets, infants can increase their representational capacity. This is the first evidence for chunking abilities in infants.
Descriptors: Infants, Object Permanence, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Stages, Schemata (Cognition), Piagetian Theory, Perceptual Development, Cognitive Measurement, Experiments
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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