Form follows function: Learning about function helps children learn about shape |
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Authors: | Elizabeth A Ware Amy E Booth |
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Institution: | 1. Psychology Department, Viterbo University, 900 Viterbo Dr., La Crosse, WI 54601, United States;2. Northwestern University, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, 2240 Campus Dr., Evanston, IL 60208, United States |
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Abstract: | Object functions help young children to organize new artifact categories. However, the scope of their influence is unknown. We explore whether functions highlight property dimensions that are relevant to artifact categories in general. Specifically, using a longitudinal training procedure, we assessed whether experience with functions highlights shape as important for categorization. Seventeen-month-olds were provided experience with novel categories of similarly shaped objects. In Study 1, the function group learned about the objects’ shape-based functions; a control group did not. In Study 2, 17-month-olds were trained on the same categories, but the objects’ shapes and functions were no longer causally related. Only the function group in Study 1 subsequently used shape reliably when categorizing novel objects. These results suggest that function is instrumental in establishing a ‘shape bias’ in early categorization and that it does so via conceptually based processes. |
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Keywords: | Early childhood development Categorization Object function Language development Shape bias |
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