Browsing by Author "Vukatana, Ena"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Distinct labels attenuate 15-month-olds' attention to shape in an inductive inference task
    (Frontiers in Psychology, 2013-01) Graham, Susan; Keates, Jeany; Vukatana, Ena; Khu, Melanie
    We examined the role of distinct labels on infants' inductive inferences. Thirty-six 15-month-old infants were presented with target objects that possessed a non-obvious property, followed by test objects that varied in shape similarity relative to the target. Infants were tested in one of two groups, a Same Label group in which target and test objects were labeled with the same noun, and a Distinct Label group in which target and test objects were labeled with different nouns. When target and test objects were labeled with the same count noun, infants generalized the non-obvious property to both test objects, regardless of similarity to the target. In contrast, labeling the target and test objects with different count nouns attenuated infants' generalization of the non-obvious property to both high and low-similarity test objects. Our results suggest that by 15 months, infants recognize that object labels provide information about underlying object kind and appreciate that distinct labels are used to designate members of different categories.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Distinct labels attenuate 15-month-olds' attention to shape in an inductive inference task
    (Frontiers in Psychology, 2013-01) Graham, Susan; Keates, Jeany; Vukatana, Ena; Khu, Melanie
    We examined the role of distinct labels on infants' inductive inferences. Thirty-six 15-month-old infants were presented with target objects that possessed a non-obvious property, followed by test objects that varied in shape similarity relative to the target. Infants were tested in one of two groups, a Same Label group in which target and test objects were labeled with the same noun, and a Distinct Label group in which target and test objects were labeled with different nouns. When target and test objects were labeled with the same count noun, infants generalized the non-obvious property to both test objects, regardless of similarity to the target. In contrast, labeling the target and test objects with different count nouns attenuated infants' generalization of the non-obvious property to both high and low-similarity test objects. Our results suggest that by 15 months, infants recognize that object labels provide information about underlying object kind and appreciate that distinct labels are used to designate members of different categories.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemEmbargo
    Early Inductive Reasoning: Examining 11-Month-Olds' Abilities
    (2013-08-20) Vukatana, Ena; Graham, Susan
    Induction is a fundamental aspect of human learning and reasoning, allowing individuals to generalize beyond what is known to new instances and situations. The present studies investigated inductive reasoning in 11-month-olds. In three experiments, infants were familiarized with animal-sound pairings (e.g., Animal1 [red]-Sound1). Following familiarization, infants’ acquisition of the original pairing and their ability to generalize the sound property to a new member of the familiar category (e.g., Animal2 [blue]-Sound1) were assessed. The results revealed that infants acquired the original animal-sound pairing, but did not generalize the sound property to a new member of a familiar category. Thus, infants formed one-to-one animal-sound mappings, but did not show evidence of category-based inferences.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Infants' Acquisition of Category-Property Links: Exploring 7- to 11-month-olds' Abilities
    (2017) Vukatana, Ena; Graham, Susan; Curtin, Suzanne; Bodner, Glen; Lebel, Catherine; Quinn, Paul
    Category-based induction is a critical aspect of human reasoning, allowing individuals to generalize beyond what is known to new instances. In this dissertation, I investigated the developmental emergence of this ability by examining infants’ ability to establish category-property links in the first year of life. Specifically, I examined 7-, 9-, and 11-month-olds’ ability to form one-to-one mappings between an animal and a sound, and to generalize the sound properties to new category members in the context of cat and dog categories. In Chapter 2, I investigated 9- and 11-month-olds’ acquisition and generalization of sound properties. After establishing that infants did not spontaneously match meowing and barking to their respective categories, I manipulated the amount of shared perceptual variability between familiarization and test exemplars (i.e., same vs. different breed of animals), and the number of exemplars presented during familiarization (i.e., single vs. multiple exemplars). Nine- and 11-month-olds formed one-to-one animal-sound mappings under all learning conditions. With respect to property extensions, 11-month-olds generalized the sound to new category members of the same and of a different breed after familiarization with a single exemplar. Nine-month-olds also generalized the sound to new category members of the same breed when familiarized with a single exemplar, but required the presentation of multiple exemplars to extend to members of a different breed. In Chapter 3, I tested 7-month-olds to assess the developmental emergence of the ability to establish category-property links. I manipulated the number of exemplars presented during familiarization (i.e., single vs. multiple exemplars) and the manner in which the stimuli were presented (i.e., sequentially vs. in pairs). Seven-month-olds learnt the animal-sound mapping when familiarized to a single category exemplar, but not when familiarized with multiple exemplars presented sequentially or in pairs. Seven-month-olds did not extend the sound property under any of the learning conditions. The results highlight (1) developmental differences in the ability to establish category-property and (2) the conditions that promote property generalizations in the first year of life. The findings provide further evidence that categorization and the ability to make property generalizations are highly dynamic processes, and will be discussed within a process-oriented framework.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    One is Not Enough: Multiple Exemplars Facilitate Infants' Generalizations of Novel Properties
    (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015-01) Vukatana, Ena; Graham, Susan A.; Curtin, Suzanne; Zepeda, Michelle S.
    Across three experiments, we examined 9- and 11-month-olds’ mappings of novel sound properties to novel animal categories. Infants were familiarized with novel animal–novel sound pairings (e.g., Animal A [red]–Sound 1) and then tested on: (1) their acquisition of the original pairing and (2) their gen- eralization of the sound property to a new member of a familiarized cate- gory (e.g., Animal A [blue]–Sound 1). When familiarized with a single exemplar of a category, 11-month-olds showed no evidence of acquiring or generalizing the animal–sound pairings. In contrast, 11-month-olds learnt the original animal–sound mappings and generalized the sound property to a novel member of that category when familiarized with multiple exemplars of a category. Finally, when familiarized with multiple exemplars, 9-month- old infants learnt the original animal–sound pairing, but did not extend the novel sound property. The results of these experiments provide evidence for developmental differences in the facilitative role of multiple exemplars in promoting the learning and generalization of information.