Category learning is shaped by the multifaceted development of selective attention.

ABSTRACT: Categories are a fundamental building block of cognition that simplify the multitude of entities we encounter into equivalence classes. By simplifying this barrage of inputs, categories support reasoning about and interacting with their members. For example, despite differences in size, color, and other features, we can treat members of the category of dogs as equivalent, and thus generalize information about any given dog to other dogs. Simplifying entities into categories in adulthood is supported by selective attention, in which people focus on category-relevant attributes, while filtering out category-irrelevant attributes. However, much category learning takes place in infancy and early childhood, when selective attention undergoes substantial development. We designed two experiments

SUBMITTER: Unger L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10276342 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature