The formation of living and non-living superordinate concepts as a function of individual differences

International audienceA differential approach of concepts formation considers that concepts can derive from similarity and contextual relations, their involvement varying according to individuals and domains. The following experiment was designed to test this differential hypothesis. Session 1 investigated individual differences in 3 year-old children with a matching task contrasting a thematic match and a basic-level taxonomic match. In spite of a taxonomic bias, children's sensitivity to each relation ordered on a taxonomic-thematic continuum. In session 2, taxonomic performances in superordinate categorization were analyzed as a function of children's sensitivity and objects domain. Children most sensitive to basic level taxonomic relations categorized better living things than non-living things at the superordinate level. On the contrary, no difference between domains was observed for children most sensitive to thematic relations. Moreover, superordinate performances for living things appeared correlated to choices in session 1, unlike for non-living things. Overall, results supported a differential approach of conceptual development