Object Function as Facilitator of Categorization in Infancy

我们的世界由无限广阔的对象、事件和对象属性组成，任何试图在其中生存的人都必须有意义地组织这些对象、事件和对象属性。值得注意的是，即使是婴儿也很容易将这种复杂的环境归类为有意义的单元。他们如何成功地完成这项看似压倒性的任务？在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根本问题的研究。具体地说，她将考虑婴儿对物体功能的天生好奇心是否以及如何有助于他们学习新的类别。这项研究将在14个月大的婴儿身上进行，这些婴儿将被引入一些不同条件下的新类别。学习成功的差异应该揭示为形成新类别提供支持的目标函数的组成部分，以及它们实现这一目标的机制。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背后的机制了解得越好，我们就越有能力确定将促进儿童最佳认知和语言发展的经验。此外，该项目还为几名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.