Journal
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 64, Issue 3, Pages 186-214Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2011.12.001
Keywords
Generics; Quantifiers; Memory; Semantics; Children
Categories
Funding
- NICHD [HD-36043]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Generics are sentences such as ravens are black and tigers are striped, which express generalizations concerning kinds. Quantified statements such as all tigers are striped or most ravens are black also express generalizations, but unlike generics, they specify how many members of the kind have the property in question. Recently, some theorists have proposed that generics express cognitively fundamental/default generalizations, and that quantified statements in contrast express cognitively more sophisticated generalizations (Gelman, 2010; Leslie, 2008). If this hypothesis is correct, then quantified statements may be remembered as generics. This paper presents four studies with 136 preschool children and 118 adults, demonstrating that adults and preschoolers alike tend to recall quantified statements as generics, thus supporting the hypothesis that generics express cognitively default generalizations. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available