How to Go from Nest to Home: Children’s Learning of Relational Categories

How do children learn relational categories such as gift, barrier, or dwelling-of? In this research we explore two means of promoting relational abstraction: comparison processes and relational labels. In Experiment 1, 6-, 4-, and 3year-old children compared pairs of cards depicting analogous situations. We either labeled the relations underlying the analogies (Relational Word condition) or simply provided the analogous pairs without labeling the relation (Analogy Only condition). Fourand six-year-olds in both conditions were able to learn the relations, but performed better if relational labels were added. Three-year-olds were unsuccessful both with and without relational words. In Experiment 2 we used a progressive alignment training method with three-year-olds. We first gave them closely similar pairs, and then progressed to analogous pairs similar to those used in Experiment 1. Three-year-olds who received a combination of progressive alignment and relational labels during training were able to successfully learn the relation. Implications for the acquisition of relational concepts are discussed.