ABSTRACT
Linguistic labels, information about category memberships, have been found to be more important man perceptual information in guiding young children’s inferences about animal kinds. However, perceptual information of static shape cues has often been stressed. A recent study has shown that young children tended to use dynamic perceptual cues, such as motion, more often than static shape cues to make categorical judgments. The overriding effects of linguistic labels over perceptual information in young children’s inferences need to be re-examined. This paper was an attempt to examine how 3-year-old children use category labels and motion cues to draw inferences about animal kinds. Data showed that preschool children tended to use motion more often than labels when confronted with a choice between labels and motion. This provides support for our view that the role of category labels in young children’s categorical judgments is not as important as what has been suggested in previous studies.
