SP 1: Conceptual Development and Causal Reasoning

Question 1

development of concepts in children

Answer 1

1st: ability to distinguish between physical concepts (teddy vs. bottle)
later: ability to understand abstract concepts (measurement, time)

Question 2

categorisation

Answer 2

the ability to treat a set of things as somehow equivalent
- form of inductive reasoning
- categories allow for: 1) prediction, 2) communication, 3) abstract thought

Question 3

3 levels of inclusiveness (based on how many features in common)

Answer 3

1) superordinate (animal)
2) basic (dog)
3) subordinate (labrador)

Question 4

categorisation and neuroscientific insights

Answer 4

• mental representation
• multimodal inferences
  categorisation is supported by learning mechanisms of neural information coding, which allows us to form summaries as basis for conscious perception

Question 5

mental representation

Answer 5

summarizing inputs, to handle large chunks of information

Question 6

prototypes

Answer 6

highly typical basic objects

Question 7

measuring categorisation

Answer 7

1) looking tasks (using habituation)
2) sequential touching tasks
3) sorting and matching-to-sample tasks

Question 8

1) looking task (habituation)

Answer 8

‘respond to things the same way’
- method: non-verbal looking preference paradigm
- age: 3-4 months
- categorisation based on perception
after habituation, infants look longer at new animal (at basis level)

Question 9

2) sequential touching tasks: prototypical objects

Answer 9

‘respond to things the same way’
- method: contrasts between toys
(basic level: cars vs. aeroplanes
superordinate/global level: animal vs. vehicle)
- 13 m/o: basic level (cars vs aeroplanes)
- 16-20 m/o: basic and superordinate level (animal vs. vehicle)

Question 10

2) sequential touching tasks: non-prototypical objects

Answer 10

‘respond to things the same way’
- 13 m/o: no systematic behavior
- 16 m/o: basic level
- 20 m/o: no systematic behavior
- 24 m/o: superordinate level
- 28 m/o: basic and superordinate level

Question 11

effect of typicality

Answer 11

performance on prototypical objects sets was greater than on non-prototypical object sets

Question 12

3) sorting and matching to sample tasks

Answer 12

‘put things in the same pile’
- 19 m/o can do basic and superordinate level (but better at basic)
- 4-5 y/o performed well but more difficulty distinguishing inanimate from animate objects

Question 13

which level develops first?

Answer 13

1) Rosch: Prototype Theory
2) Quinn and Mandler: Children find it easier to distinguish vehicles from animals, than dogs from horses
superordinate: based on knowledge
basic: based on perceivable features

Question 14

1) Rosch: prototype theory

Answer 14

Basic level emerges first

Question 15

2) Quinn and Mandler: easier to distinguish vehicles from animals than dogs from horses

Answer 15

Superordinate level emerges first

Question 16

language: thematic relations

Answer 16

bees go with honey
- objects of categories are often seen together with objects of other categories

Question 17

language: categorical relations

Answer 17

bees go with butterflies
- objects of categories look similar to objects of other categories

Question 18

biological/non-biological entities and development in children

Answer 18

• 2 day olds can distinguish biological motion light displays from random light displays
• 7-13 y/o showed no age-related differences in brain activity in response to watching biological motion displays
• sensitivity to biological motion related to activity to ‘social brain areas’
• eye-tracking: 14 m/o use biological motion to detect human interaction

Question 19

anthropocentrism

Answer 19

the understanding of biology emerges out of their understanding of people

Question 20

ability to categorise develops rapidly in infancy and early childhood:

Answer 20

• from perceptual to conceptual
• from general to specific
• from intuitive to factual

Question 21

learning how the world works: explaining actions from…

Answer 21

…people: Theory of Mind
…things: causal reasoning

Question 22

learning by playing

Answer 22

toys: trigger early form of causal reasoning
- if I do X, Y will happen

Question 23

types of reasoning

Answer 23

1) inductive reasoning
2) deductive reasoning

Question 24

1) inductive reasoning

Answer 24

specific -> general
- not logically valid, but useful for forming hypotheses
- easier for children than deductive reasoning

Question 25

2) deductive reasoning

Answer 25

general -> specific
- logically valid
- more difficult for children than inductive reasoning

Question 26

analogy

Answer 26

form of inductive reasoning
- based on specific examples, to make general statements
- like testing on animals in medical science

Question 27

false analogies

Answer 27

comparison between 2 things that are different in an essential way

Question 28

syllogism

Answer 28

form of deductive reasoning
- 2 premises, 1 conclusion

Question 29

early causality understanding

Answer 29

expectation violation (gravity)
- 7.5-9.5 m/o look longer at impossible events

Question 30

development of causal reasoning: transformations of familiar objects

Answer 30

canonical form -> causal agent -> noncanonical form
- 3 y/o already do well on this task

Question 31

development of inductive reasoning

Answer 31

generally, 3 y/o do well with analogies

Question 32

development of deductive reasoning

Answer 32

4 y/o children do well with syllogisms

Question 33

Hume’s causality theory: 4 causal principes

Answer 33

people think that X causes Y when:
1) priority: X occurs before Y in time (we see causes before effects)
2) covariation: if X occurs, Y also occurs
3) temporal contiguity: X and Y are sequential (close) in time
4) similarity: all things being equal causes and effects should be similar in nature

Question 34

priority principle

Answer 34

Jack in the box; which marble made jack pop up?
3 y/o are good at this

Question 35

covariation principle

Answer 35

which switch turns on the lights?
3 y/o can already figure this out

Question 36

which is most important?

Answer 36

depends on context and background information