Taxonomic and Complementary Picture Pairs: Ability in Two to Five-Year-Olds

Abstract

Two through five-year-old children were presented a picture recognition task in two testing sessions (experiment 1). The correct choice formed a complementary relationship with the previously seen study picture on one day, and belonged to the same taxonomic class as the study picture on the other day. Ability to utilize both organizational principles was well above chance levels for two-year-olds and increased with CA, with a complementary superiority evident for all age groups on several measures. Verbal justification of choices reflecfed conceptual mediation at all ages. In experiment 2, alternate explanations of the two-year-olds' choice behavior were shown to be inadequate.

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