Children’s knowledge of superordinate words predicts subsequent inductive reasoning

Abstract

Children’s early language knowledge—typically assessed using standardized word comprehension tests or through parental reports—has been positively linked to a variety of later outcomes, from reasoning tests to academic performance to income and health. To better understand the mechanisms behind these links, we examined whether knowledge of certain “seed words”—words with high inductive potential—is positively associated with inductive reasoning. This hypothesis stems from prior work on the effects of language on categorization suggesting that certain words may be important for helping people to deploy categorical hypotheses. Using a longitudinal design, we assessed 36 2- to 4-year-old children’s knowledge of 333 words of varying levels of generality (e.g., toy vs. pinwheel, number vs. five). We predicted that adjusting for overall vocabulary, knowledge of more general words (e.g., toy, number) would predict children’s performance on inductive reasoning tasks administered 6 months later (i.e., a subset of the Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales for Early Childhood–Fifth Edition [SB-5] and Woodcock–Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities [WJ] concept formation tasks). This prediction was confirmed for one of the measures of inductive reasoning (i.e., the SB-5 but not the WJ) and notably for the task considered to be less reliant on language. Although our experimental design demonstrates only a correlational relationship between seed word knowledge and inductive reasoning ability, our results are consistent with the possibility that early knowledge of certain seed words facilitates performance on putatively nonverbal reasoning tasks.