Advancing Downward to the Basic Level

In 3 experiments, we studied whether infants and young children understand various basic-level conceptual distinctions in the domains of household artifacts, animals, and vehicles. Using small replicas, we modeled events such as washing dishes in a sink for children 14, 19, and 24 months old, and then gave them an exemplar from the same basic-level concept (another sink) and an exemplar of another concept from the same domain (bathtub). We measured which object they used to imitate the event. Fourteen-month-olds did not differentiate among basic-level categories in any of these domains, for example, washing dishes in both a tub and a sink, and putting both a rabbit and a bird in a nest. By 19 months, inappropriate behavior was greatly reduced for household artifacts and for vehicles, but not for animals. By 24 months, performance was mainly appropriate for all 3 domains. It was also shown that although 14-month-olds are not making many conceptual distinctions at the basic level, they are nevertheless beginning to make some broader conceptual distinctions among artifacts.

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