title: Abstract Rule Learning for Visual Sequences in 8- and 11-Month-Olds.
abstract: The experiments reported here investigated the development of a fundamental component of cognition: to recognize and generalize abstract relations. Infants were presented with simple rule-governed patterned sequences of visual shapes (ABB, AAB, and ABA) that could be discriminated from differences in the position of the repeated element (late, early, or nonadjacent, respectively). Eight-month-olds were found to distinguish patterns on the basis of the repetition, but appeared insensitive to its position in the sequence; 11-month-olds distinguished patterns over the position of the repetition, but appeared insensitive to the nonadjacent repetition. These results suggest that abstract pattern detection may develop incrementally in a process of constructing complex relations from more primitive components.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles.
authors.forename: Scott P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Keith J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Fernandas
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: Natasha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kirkham
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marcus
authors.forename: Hugh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rabagliati
authors.forename: Jonathan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Slemmer