Reasoning about object categories and properties during early childhood

归纳法是我们日常推理的重要组成部分，它使我们能够对已知的新实例和新情况进行概括。我的研究重点是在婴儿期和学龄前时期出现的基于类别的归纳推理。基于类别的归纳通常包括以下推理：首先，观察到X具有属性Y（例如，知更鸟会飞）；第二，确定X和Z是同一种东西（例如，知更鸟和麻雀都是鸟）；第三，推断Z也具有属性Y（例如，因此麻雀会飞）。推理同一类别的成员也可能共享属性的能力使儿童能够理解环境中物体和实体的巨大多样性，从而提高认知效率，并有机会从过去的经验中受益。

Induction is an important part of our everyday reasoning, allowing us to generalize beyond what is known to new instances and situations. My research focuses on the emergence of category-based inductive reasoning during the infancy and preschool years. Category-based induction typically involves the following line of reasoning: first, observing that X has the property Y (e.g., a robin can fly); second, deciding that X and Z are the same kind of thing (e.g., a robin and a sparrow are both birds); and third, inferring that Z also has the property Y (e.g., therefore a sparrow can fly). The ability to reason that members of the same category may also share properties allows children to make sense of the great diversity of objects and entities in their environment and leads to cognitive efficiency and the opportunity to benefit from past experiences.