Andrea Taverna

Naming the Living Things: Linguistic, Experiential and Cultural Factors in Wichí and Spanish Speaking Children

This work focuses on the underlying conceptual structure of children’s category of living things from a cross-cultural, cross-linguistic perspective. School-aged children (n = 129) from three Argentinean communities (rural Wichi-speaking, rural Spanish-speaking, urban Spanish-speaking) were asked to generate the names of living things. Analyses were focused on the typicality, semantic organization, and hierarchical level of the names mentioned. We identified convergences among the names generated by children in all three communities, as well as key differences: the typicality, habitats and hierarchical level of the categories mentioned varied as a function of children’s language and their direct experience with the natural world. These findings provide evidence concerning the role of language, culture and experience in shaping children’s folkbiological concepts.

Core Folkbiological Concepts: New Evidence from Wichí Children and Adults

AbstractWe examine two core folk-biological concepts (e.g., animate, living thing, where small capital letters denote concepts; quotation marks denote their names; italics denote language-specific names) in adults and children from the Wichi community, an indigenous group of Amerindians living in the Chaco forest in north Argentina. We provide an overview of the Wichi community, describing in brief their interaction with objects and events in the natural world, and the naming systems they use to describe key folkbiological concepts. We then report the results of two behavioral studies, each designed to deepen our understanding of the acquisition of the fundamental folkbiological concepts animate and living thing in Wichi adults and children. These results converge well with evidence from other communities. Wichi children and adults appreciate these fundamental concepts; both are strongly aligned with the Wichi community-wide belief systems. This work underscores the importance of considering cultural and linguistic factors in studying the acquisition of fundamental concepts about the biological world.

Desarrollo Conceptual: Perspectivas Actuales en la Adquisición Temprana de Conceptos

Se examinan cuatro propuestas teoricas actuales acerca de la formacion y desarrollo temprano de conceptos: aproximaciones innatistas, enfoques asociacionistas, teorias del conocimiento nuclear y perspectivas socio-culturales. Las propuestas concuerdan en que los conceptos cumplen un rol importante en el desarrollo cognitivo, pero difieren marcadamente en el modo de explicar su adquisicion y desarrollo temprano. Estas divergencias reeditan debates filosoficos clasicos acerca del lugar de la naturaleza, la experiencia, la razon y la cultura en el desarrollo del conocimiento. Se discute la necesidad de reconsiderar el desarrollo conceptual a la luz de modelos teoricos mas inclusivos, si se pretende avanzar criticamente en una aproximacion teorica general acerca de la formacion y desarrollo de conceptos en la infancia.

Comparación e Inferencia en la Categorización de Artefactos No Familiares: Un Estudio con Niños Pequeños

Prior research on category development has shown that cognitive processes such as comparison and inductive inference promote conceptual development, highlighting particular aspects of childrens existing conceptual knowledge. This paper reports the study of childrens comparison and inductive inference in the categorization of non-familiar objects. It used a forced-choice and word extension task with novel artifacts, manipulating their functional properties. Using an accidental sample, Study 1 assessed whether 2 to 5 years old children extended a novel word to a non-familiar artifact based of its function. It was found that only 5-year-olds succeeded. Study 2 tested the effects of comparison in the formation of categories in 48 4-year-olds and Study 3 the effects of inference in 24 4-year-old children. Only children who compared artifact-members under a common label went beyond the perceptual bias and formed new categories, but not the children who were invited to make property-based inference. Results are discussed concerning the extent of comparison and the restrictions of property-based inference in the categorization of objects with no pre-existing conceptual knowledge.

Formación de categorías supraordenadas en la niñez temprana. El papel de la instrucción

Resumen Este trabajo investiga el papel de la instrucción en el desarrollo de categorías. El Estudio 1 ilustra diferencias evolutivas en la categorización de objetos; mientras que los niños de 6 años forman categorías supraordenadas, los de 3 y 4 años categorizan sobre la base de relaciones perceptivas. El Estudio 2 indaga si a los 3 años los niños pueden formar categorías supraordenadas si reciben instrucción. Se comparó la ejecución de estos niños en dos condiciones con instrucción, comparación e inferencia, y una condición sin instrucción. Este estudio reveló que a los 3 años los niños detectan relaciones supraordenadas solo si realizan comparaciones o inferencias en un contexto de instrucción. Los resultados sugieren que la instrucción puede constituir una vía por la cual integrar los objetos de nivel básico en el tipo de relación conceptual que define a las categorías supraorde-nadas.