<abstract xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Two experiments were run to investigate how preschoolers use the pattern of an object's change as a cue to noticing correlations among the object's subsequent features. Four-year-old children were familiarized with either an internally or externally-driven transformation of an object, and tested for identification of an animation that did not match the familiar sequence of the object's features. In both experiments children in the internal-change group identified the incorrect sequence significantly more quickly than in the external-change condition. These results strongly suggest that perception of internally-driven transformation facilitates the formation of and/or access to a representation of correspondences between subsequent features of an object. The possible role of this mechanism in essentialist thinking is discussed at the end of the paper.</p></abstract>

Two experiments were run to investigate how preschoolers use the pattern of an object's change as a cue to noticing correlations among the object's subsequent features. Four-year-old children were familiarized with either an internally or externally-driven transformation of an object, and tested for identification of an animation that did not match the familiar sequence of the object's features. In both experiments children in the internal-change group identified the incorrect sequence significantly more quickly than in the external-change condition. These results strongly suggest that perception of internally-driven transformation facilitates the formation of and/or access to a representation of correspondences between subsequent features of an object. The possible role of this mechanism in essentialist thinking is discussed at the end of the paper.

Internally-driven change and feature correspondence in object representation: A key to children's essentialism?

Psychology of Language and Communication

Two experiments were run to investigate how preschoolers use the pattern of an object's change as a cue to noticing correlations among the object's subsequent...

Internally-driven change and feature correspondence in object representation: A key to children's essentialism?

Published Online: Dec 22, 2010

Page range: 3 - 13

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10057-010-0007-4

Keywords
object representation, feature correlations, change perception, essentialism

This content is open access.

Internally-driven change and feature correspondence in object representation: A key to children's essentialism?

Published Online: Dec 22, 2010

Page range: 3 - 13

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10057-010-0007-4

Keywordsobject representation, feature correlations, change perception, essentialism

This content is open access.

Keywords
object representation, feature correlations, change perception, essentialism