[Hierarchical semantic organization in children].
The purpose of the present study was to investigate developmental changes of two functions in the subordinate, for three-level (item - the subordinate - the superordinate) hierarchical semantic organization. One is the function that abstracts items, and the other is that mediates between items and the superordinate to abstract the subordinates into the superordinate. In Experiment 1, primary school children memorized seven sets which consists of four words, from different categories. Each set had hierarchical structures, like those that have been used by Steinberg & Anderson's (1975). The subjects were asked to recall targets and other words used CC (close cohyponyms), RC (remote cohyponyms), and control words as retrieval cues. In Experiment 2, the subjects memorized sets, and recalled targets by RC cues in one of the following ways: using RC + the superordinate cues, RC + the subordinate cues or only RC cues. In Experiment 3, children's understanding of basic hierarchical relations was investigated by questionnaire. These results showed that primary school children developed understanding and utilization of the subordinate - the superordinate relationship (second function), more slowly in comparison with the first one.
Yamaguchi
H
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Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Hiroshima University.
D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D006801:Humans; D011939:Mental Recall; D012659:Semantic Differential