Superordinate Class Research Articles

Inhibitory control efficiency in a Piaget-like class-inclusion task in school-age children and adults: A developmental negative priming study.

Most children under 7 years of age presented with 10 daisies and 2 roses fail to indicate that there are more flowers than daisies. Instead of the appropriate comparison of the relative numerosities of the superordinate class (flowers) to its subordinate class (daisies), they perform a direct perceptual comparison of the extensions of the 2 subordinate classes (daisies vs. roses). In our experiment, we investigated whether increasing efficiency in solving the Piagetian class-inclusion task is related to increasing efficiency in the ability to resist (inhibit) this direct comparison of the subordinate classes' extensions. Ten-year-old and young adult participants performed a computerized priming version of a Piaget-like class-inclusion task. The experimental design was such that the misleading perceptual strategy to inhibit on the prime (in which a superordinate class had to be compared with a subordinate class) became a congruent strategy to activate on the probe (in which the two subordinate classes' extensions were directly compared). We found a negative priming effect of 291 ms in children and 129 ms in adults. These results provide evidence for the first time (a) that adults still need to inhibit the comparison of the subordinate classes' extensions in class-inclusion tasks and (b) that the ability to inhibit this heuristic increases with age (resulting in a lower executive cost). Taken together, these findings provide additional support for the neo-Piagetian approach of cognitive development that suggests that the acquisition of increasingly complex knowledge is based on the ability to resist (inhibit) heuristics and previously acquired knowledge.

The Grammaticalisation of Nominal Type Noun Constructions with kind/sort of: Chronology and Paths of Change

Denison distinguishes three main NP constructions with type nouns such as sort/kind/type of in Present-day English, namely the head, postdeterminer and qualifier constructions. The latter two developed from the binominal construction in which lexically full sort/kind/type is the head followed by a second noun designating a superordinate class. In the chronology he posits the postdeterminer construction as an early reanalysis of the binominal construction (c.1390 for all kind of and c.1550 for kind and sort of), whereas the qualifying constructions developed later from it (c.1580 for kind of and c.1710 for sort of), via the mediation of the postdeterminer construction. However, in recent synchronic corpus studies we have distinguished two additional NP constructions with type nouns, namely quantifier and descriptive modifier, on the basis of syntactic, semantic and collocational features. In the present article we consider the diachronic import of these newly distinguished constructions and argue that they are key pivots in the developmental paths that have led from the head construction to constructions in which the type noun is not the head. By thus refining Denison's proposed chronology, we argue that new constructions emerge as the result of complex interlocking paths in which the quantifier and descriptive modifier constructions pre-dated, and helped facilitate and entrench, the postdeterminer and qualifying constructions.

Age-trend-related differences in tasks involving conjunctive probabilistic reasoning.

Conjunctive probabilistic reasoning has been studied at different ages to ascertain whether the conjunction fallacy is due to a task demand misinterpretation. Such a misinterpretation might occur because a task that requires a comparison between a superordinate class A and a subordinate class A&B is mistakenly interpreted as requiring a comparison between the two complementary subordinate classes of A (i.e., A&B and A&notB). Children (7- and 10-year-olds) and adults were required to make conjunctive probability judgments about problems for which explicit objective probabilities were provided. The total number of A items was kept constant and the frequencies of the A&B and of the A&notB items varied across problems. When the number of A&B items was smaller than the number of A&notB items, the frequency of congruent responses increased with age. When the number of A&B items was greater or equal to that of the A&notB items, the frequency of correct answers decreased.

The effect of subordinate and superodinate class in categorization task

Categorization as a function of position of subordinate instance and superordinate class (e.g. cat-mammal vs. mammal-cat) was investigated in six experiments. Participant's task was to answer (by pressing yes/no key) whether an instance (e.g. cat) and a class (e.g. mammal) are categorically congruent. In Experiments 1, 3 an 5 instance was presented as the first stimulus in a pair, while in Experiments 2, 4 and 6 it was the second stimulus in a pair. In Experiments 1 and 2 instance was presented within a blocked design, while class was varied (e.g. mammal/insect), while in Experiments 3 and 4 the order was reversed, i.e. class was blocked while instances varied with respect to category (e.g. cat/bee). In Experiments 5 and 6 both instances and classes varied. The outcome of the six experiments indicates that categorization latency depends on order of presentation (instance/class vs. class/instance) and class (mammal vs. insect). Categorization time was slower if the first stimulus in a pair denotes a class. Conspicuous deviation was observed for the class of insects where congruent instance/class pairs were categorized slower than non-congruent pairs. There was also a three-way interaction (class x instance: class congruency x order of presentation).

Foulds' hierarchy: validation of predictions in psychiatric and dermatological patients.

Foulds' inclusive non-reflexive law of symptom formation has been hitherto confirmed only on psychiatric or non-clinical persons. Given that respectively a yes-bias and a high frequency of non-classified patients may have inflated the rate of confirming protocols in these groups, a validation study was conducted with the Delusions-Symptoms-States Inventory (DSSI) on 188 psychiatric and 295 dermatological patients. Although non-classified patients were not included in the study (thus lowering the number of conforming patterns), both samples showed percentages of patterns conforming to Foulds' law which were above 85 per cent. No significant intergroup difference was found. The rate of conforming patterns in both groups was lower for members of the two psychotic classes (61-77 per cent). Foulds further hypothesized that the number of pathological sets within a given class grows if there is allocation into a superordinate class. This assumption was confirmed in both groups and for most of the inter-class comparisons. Suggestions were advanced to clarify the issue of the time span to be covered by Foulds' pyramid, to refine the instructions and the response format of the DSSI, and to include into the pyramid further relevant disturbances.

Form symbolism, analogy, and metaphor

Simple forms, such as a square and a circle, can be symbolic; for example, a square can be deemed to behard and a circle to besoft. The relation between form symbolism and the comprehension of metaphors and analogies was studied in three experiments. Subjects were asked to rate matches between terms such assoft andhard andcircle andsquare as symbols (Experiment 1), metaphors (Experiment 2), and analogies (Experiment 3). The results show that a highly rated symbolic relation could be a poorly rated metaphorical relation. Ratings of analogies were similar to ratings of symbols. We argue that apt metaphors, analogies, and symbolic forms claim that the vehicle and the topic of the comparisons have common features, but that metaphoric representation entails more common features than does either symbolism or analogy, because metaphor requires that the vehicle be an especially apt example of a superordinate class. Thus, metaphor is a particularly strong claim about common features shared by the topic and the vehicle.

Beyond competence and performance: Children's class inclusion strategies, superordinate class cues, and verbal justifications.

Seventy-two children from 4 to 10 years of age were given 2 class inclusion in which the superordinate class was perceptually and linguistically marked or unmarked. A minor subclass question was also asked in order to estimate the rates of children's underlying solution strategies. The results indicated (a) that the performance of 4-6-year-olds was inflated by guessing, (b) that scores were higher in the marked task as compared with the unmarked task because of different rates of inclusion logic, and (c) that children's verbal justifications closely approximated their estimated true competence, contrary to common assumptions. The conclusion is drawn that the relation between verbal justification and intrapsychic inference is an important theoretical issue, not merely a question of measurement validity

Beyond competence and performance: Children's class inclusion strategies, superordinate class cues, and verbal justifications.

Beyond competence and performance: Children's class inclusion strategies, superordinate class cues, and verbal justifications.

Class inclusion and working memory

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the general issue of the relationship between memory and reasoning and the specific issue of subskills used in answering class-inclusion questions. Semantic skills of first-grade children were investigated in the Pilot Experiment. In Experiment 1, an attempt was made to determine if fourth graders, seventh graders, and college students mimicked the first graders tendency to appropriately encode the superordinate class, but answer class-inclusion questions as though only subclass comparisons were required. A mathematical model and a computer-based methodology were developed for this purpose. Unlike previous research, in Experiment 1 fourth and seventh graders showed no understanding of class-inclusion logic. Because of the additional memory demands imposed by the questions used in Experiment 1, a third experiment was conducted to evaluate if memory load determined the quality of class-inclusion reasoning. The results obtained across the three experiments were interpreted as reflecting the need for a new conceptualization of the class-inclusion task. Performance seems to be dependent on subjects' abilities to integrate relevant subskills, rather than on deficient reasoning or missing subskills, consistent with a resource-limited, willed-attention, working-memory model.

The cradle of categorization: Is the basic level basic?

A common assumption in the developmental literature is that the earliest kind of conceptual categories to be formed are basic-level categories. A corollary assumption is that superordinate categories are formed after, and out of, previously acquired basic-level categories. Two experiments using an object-manipulation task explored these assumptions by studying response to a variety of categories in children aged from 12 to 20 months. The first experiment examined responses to basic-level categories (dogs vs. cars),superordinate categories (animals vs. vehicles), and contextual categories (kitchen things vs. bathroom things). At all ages tested, the children performed best on the basic-level categories but, even at 12 months of age, some children were responsive to the superordinate and contextual categories. By 20 months of age, approximately half of the children showed such sensitivity. The second experiment showed that 16- and 20-month-olds differentiated basic-level categories only when the categorical contrasts were taken from different superordinate classes (e.g., dogs vs. cars) and not when the categories were drawn from the same superordinate class (e.g., dogs vs. horses). The data suggest that basic-levels categories are not the first kind of conceptual categories to be formed. Instead, it appears that children may form more global categories, with basic-level differentiation occurring later.

Effect of Introducing the Universal Quantifier ‘All’ into the Class Inclusion Question

The effect of introducing the universal quantifier ‘all’ into the class inclusion question was investigated using 104 children aged 59 to 90 mo. One group of children was asked the standard version of the question, another an ‘all-subset’ version in which ‘all’ preceded the subclass, the third an ‘all-superset’ version with ‘all’ before the superordinate class, and the fourth a ‘double-all’ version with ‘all’ in both locations. When the superordinate class was mentioned last in the question, performance was better on the all-superset and double-all versions than on the standard version. When the subclass was mentioned last, performance was better on the all-superset version only. Performance on the all-subset version did not differ from that on the standard version. The results were explained in terms of the attention-directing role of ‘all’, together with the proposal that performance improves if attention is drawn towards the superordinate class and/or away from the contrast between the subclasses.

A constraint on comparisons: Equally detailed alternatives

Children's errors in collective comparison tasks are atributed to the comparison of the wrong classes. It is specifically hypothesized that alternative classes are erroneously formed subject to the constrain that the same kinds of properties are criterial for each alternative. This hypothesis, called the equally detailed alternatives hypothesis, is tested in three experiments with hierarchically organized stimuli and requests to compare a superordinate class and a nonincluded subclass, for example, dogs and yellow cats. In all three experiments 4-year-old children's comparisons were found to be in accord with the hypothesis. In the first experiment both perceptual and linguistic factors determine which classes are compared. In the second experiment, as predicted, erroneous subclass comparisons were more common when all subclasses were distinguished by the same kinds of properties. In the third experiment, the children were asked to partition the stimulus objects into the classes to be compared. The vast majority of partitions were erroneous and in accord with the hypothesis. Potential benefits of the constrain are considered.

Children's Understanding of the Referential Properties of Collective and Class Nouns

SMITH, LINDA B., and RIzzo, THOMAS A. Children's Understanding of the Referential Properties of Collective and Class Nouns. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1982, 53, 245-257. Preschool and kindergarten age children's understanding of the distinct referential properties of collective and class nouns and the relationship between this understanding and performance in part-whole comparison tasks was examined in 3 experiments. The results of these experiments show that young children have a fine understanding of the relationship between nouns and the sets to which they refer. Specifically, children understand the hierarchical structure of class nouns and thus know that a superordinate class noun that correctly labels a set also correctly labels any included subset. Children also understand the part-whole structure underlying collective nouns and thus know that a collective noun that labels some set may not label a portion of that set. This knowledge was evident in children's judgments of the application of collective and class nouns and in their ability to define the 2 types of nouns differently. This knowledge appears to be a major factor in children's failures in traditional class-inclusion tasks and success in such tasks when a superordinate class noun is replaced by a collective noun. Children misinterpret class nouns as referring to included subclasses because they know class nouns refer to included subclasses. Children do not misinterpret collective nouns because they know collective nouns refer to entire sets. Finally, young children can make part-whole comparisons both when the whole is designated by a class noun and when it is designated by a collective noun. When the intended meaning of class nouns was clear, the children compared classes and subclasses as well as they compared collections and portions of collections.

Language Effects in Assessment of Class-Inclusion Ability

HODKIN, BARBARA. Language Effects in Assessment of Class-inclusion Ability. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1981, 52, 470-478. Language effects in class-inclusion performance were examined with 224 children aged 3 through 12 by comparing the standard Piagetian question with 2 alternate question forms. The first was Siegel's question, which does not contain relational terminology, and the second was a form in which the word all modifies the superordinate class. Children 4, 5, and 6 years old gave more right answers to Siegel's than to Piaget's question, but the difference in performance was based on a noninclusion strategy. With the allmodified question, 3-8-year-old children gave more correct answers than with the standard question. The results of a second study with 128 children aged 4 through 8 indicated that children did well with the all-modified form because they understood the question. Overall, the findings were inconsistent with the Piagetian assertion that the error of comparing the subclasses results from logical inability because evidence of subclass comparison was obtained only with the standard Piagetian question, not with the other questions. Thus, inclusion performance is a function of language as well as logical ability.

The Effect of Type of Superordinate Class and Size of Array on Class-Inclusion Performance

The Effect of Type of Superordinate Class and Size of Array on Class-Inclusion Performance

Empirical versus Logical Solutions to Part-Whole Comparison Problems concerning Classes and Collections

MARKMAN, ELLEN M. Empirical versus Logical Solutions to Part-Whole Comparison Problems concerning Classes and Collections. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1978, 49, 168-177. When initially solving the Piagetian class-inclusion problem, children may take the greater numerosity of the superordinate class, compared to its subordinate class, to be an empirical fact rather than a logical consequence of the part-whole relation. This hypothesis was tested in study 1, where second through sixth graders, all of whom could answer inclusion questions, were given tasks which required them to answer the questions in the absence of empirical information about relative quantity and to predict whether a subordinate class could be made larger than its superordinate class. Results indicated that until about sixth grade children treat the greater numerosity of the superordinate class as an empirical fact. Given this age range, it seemed possible that formal operations are required to appreciate necessity. To test this stage theory, in study 2 children's performance in 2 part-whole domains, classes and collections, was compared. Collections are the referents of collective nouns (e.g., forest, family, army). Collections are argued to form better psychological units and to have more literal part-whole relations than classes. Previous work has demonstrated that part-whole comparisons are simpler when made on collections than on classes. The results of study 2 suggest that conceptualizing elements as collections also enhances children's awareness of the logical necessity of their answers. The good performance of elementary school children that was found for collections argues against a stage-theory interpretation of the appreciation of necessity.

幼児のクラス包摂についての実験的研究

This study was designed to examine the effects of procedural variations on young children's responses to classification tasks. The Ss consisted of children of 3 age groups, kindergarteners, first graders and second graders of which mean age is 51/2, 61/2 and 71/2 years, respectively. Each child was assigned 2 kinds of tasks to perform: One was to recognize those superordinate class materials such as flowers, children and animals, the other was to recognize those superodinate classes as to their colors, shapes and sized, Major findings were as follows: (a) The kindergarteners obtained a higher mean scores of correct responses to classification questions than first graders. (b) There were significant differences of the total mean scores between 2 sexes from each group. (c) The verbal facilitation effects were not necessarily established all through the experiments.