Investigated degree to which two shape dimensions were represented categorically by children and adults when learning object names. Found that adults accepted names more often to objects that fell within proposed shape boundaries than to objects that crossed boundaries. Children were just as likely to generalize names to novel objects that fell…

Describes two experiments conducted to explain why retarded children of younger mental age appear to be more selective on discrimination tasks containing relevant redundant cues than do children of older mental age. Findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the latter group of children are overselective because they tend to solve…