What processes do infants employ in categorizing? Infants might categorize on line as they encounter category-related entities; alternatively, infants might depend on prior experience with entities in formulating categories. These alternatives were tested in forty-four 5-month-olds. Infants who were familiarized in the laboratory with a category of never-before-seen objects subsequently treated novel objects of the same category as familiar—they categorized on line—just as did infants who were exposed to objects from the same category at home for 2 months leading to their laboratory assessment of object categorization. Infants with home experience also recognized novel category objects as familiar from the outset—that is, prior experience with category exemplars was brought to bear in laboratory tasks.
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