Object Function as Facilitator of Categorization in Infancy

我们的世界是由无限广阔的物体、事件和物体属性组成的，任何试图在其中生存的人都必须有意义地组织这些物体、事件和物体属性。他们是如何完成这一看似艰巨的任务的？在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，艾米·布斯博士将进行旨在回答这一基本问题的研究。具体来说，她将考虑婴儿对物体功能的自然好奇心是否以及如何促进他们对新类别的学习。这项研究将在14个月大的婴儿身上进行，他们将在许多不同的条件下被引入新的类别。学习成功的变化应该揭示为形成新类别提供支持的对象功能的组成部分，以及它们这样做的机制。布斯博士的项目将对早期分类和概念发展理论产生重要影响。更广泛地说，该项目的影响包括应用于早期教育和干预计划。我们对早期概念发展的机制了解得越多，就越能更好地识别那些能促进儿童最佳认知和语言发展的经验。此外，该项目还为一些本科生和研究生提供了直接参与研究的机会。

Our world is composed of an infinite expanse of objects, events, and object properties that must be meaningfully organized by anyone attempting to survive in it. Remarkably, even infants easily categorize this complex environment into meaningful units. How do they succeed at this seemingly overwhelming task? With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Amy Booth will conduct research designed to answer this fundamental question. Specifically, she will consider whether and how infants' natural curiosity about how objects function might facilitate their learning of new categories. The research will be conducted on 14-month-old infants who will be introduced to novel categories under a number of different conditions. Variations in learning success should reveal the components of object function that provide support for forming new categories, as well as the mechanisms by which they do so. Dr. Booth's project will have important implications for theories of early categorization and conceptual development. More broadly, the impacts of this project include applications to early education and intervention programs. The better we understand the mechanisms underlying early conceptual development, the better we will be equipped to identify the experiences that will foster optimal cognitive and linguistic development in children. In addition, this project provides opportunities for several undergraduate and graduate students to directly participate in research.