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Deep thinking in children: The case for knowledge change in analogical development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 1998

Dedre Gentner  and
Mary Jo Rattermann
Dedre Gentner
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 gentner@nwu.edu
Mary Jo Rattermann
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA 17604 m_rattermann@acad.fandm.edu
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Abstract

Halford, Wilson & Phillips argue that cognitive development is driven by increases in processing capacity. We suggest that changes in relational knowledge are as important or more so. We present evidence that 3-year-olds' analogical abilities are sharply improved by teaching them relational labels; over a 30-minute experimental session children gained approximately 2 years in effective performance. These results mandate caution interpreting age-related change as indicating maturational change, and call for a deeper consideration of the role of epistemological change in cognitive development.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 21 , Issue 6 , December 1998 , pp. 837 - 838
Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press

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