Research
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Sensitivity to Relational Similarity and Object Similarity in Apes and Children
Publication · October 16, 2024
Structural Alignment in Incidental Word Learning
Abstract
Young children can sometimes acquire new vocabulary words with only limited, indirect exposure (Carey & Bartlett, 1978). We propose that structural alignment processes lead to fluent detection of commonalities and differences that facil...
Publication · October 16, 2024
The paradox of relational development: Could language learning be (temporarily) harmful?
Abstract
Recent studies report a striking decline in children’s ability to notice same-different relations around age 3 (Walker et al., 2015). We propose that such a decline results from an object focus related to children’s avid noun-learning. ...
Publication · October 16, 2024
Rapid Learning in a Children's Museum via Analogical Comparison
Abstract
We tested whether analogical training could help children learn a key principle of elementary engineering-namely, the use of a diagonal brace to stabilize a structure. The context for this learning was a construction activity at the Chi...
Publication · October 16, 2024
Gesture reveals spatial analogies during complex relational reasoning
Abstract
How do people think about complex relational phenomena like the behavior of the stock market? Here we hypothesize that people reason about such phenomena in part by creating spatial analogies, and we explore this possibility by examinin...
Publication · October 16, 2024
Spatial analogies pervade complex relational reasoning: Evidence from spontaneous gestures
Publication · October 16, 2024
Analogical Abstraction in Three-Month-Olds
Abstract
This research tests whether analogical processing ability is present in 3-month-old infants. Infants are habituated to a series of analogous pairs, instantiating either same (e.g., AA, BB, etc.) or different (e.g., AB, CD, etc.), and th...
Publication · October 16, 2024
Analogy and Abstraction
Abstract
A central question in human development is how young children gain knowledge so fast. We propose that analogical generalization drives much of this early learning and allows children to generate new abstractions from experience. In this...
Publication · October 16, 2024
Analogical Inferences in Causal Systems
Abstract
Analogical and causal reasoning theories both seek to explain patterns of inductive inference. Researchers have claimed that reasoning scenarios incorporating aspects of both analogical comparison and causal thinking necessitate a new m...
Publication · October 16, 2024
Analogical gestures foster understanding of causal systems
Abstract
Sensitivity to the causal structure underlying phenomena is critical to expert understanding. Fostering such understanding in learners is therefore a key goal in education. We hypothesized that observing analogical gestures—which repres...
Publication · October 16, 2024