Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-t6hkb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-13T14:36:45.779Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Is core knowledge a natural subdivision of infant cognition?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2024

Caroline M. Kaicher*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA ckaicher@andrew.cmu.edu; jjconti@andrew.cmu.edu; adedhe@andrew.cmu.edu; laulet@andrew.cmu.edu; jcantlon@andrew.cmu.edu https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/psychology/kidneurolab/
Julia J. Conti
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA ckaicher@andrew.cmu.edu; jjconti@andrew.cmu.edu; adedhe@andrew.cmu.edu; laulet@andrew.cmu.edu; jcantlon@andrew.cmu.edu https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/psychology/kidneurolab/
Abhishek M. Dedhe
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA ckaicher@andrew.cmu.edu; jjconti@andrew.cmu.edu; adedhe@andrew.cmu.edu; laulet@andrew.cmu.edu; jcantlon@andrew.cmu.edu https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/psychology/kidneurolab/
Lauren S. Aulet
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA ckaicher@andrew.cmu.edu; jjconti@andrew.cmu.edu; adedhe@andrew.cmu.edu; laulet@andrew.cmu.edu; jcantlon@andrew.cmu.edu https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/psychology/kidneurolab/
Jessica F. Cantlon
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA ckaicher@andrew.cmu.edu; jjconti@andrew.cmu.edu; adedhe@andrew.cmu.edu; laulet@andrew.cmu.edu; jcantlon@andrew.cmu.edu https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/psychology/kidneurolab/
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

We examine Spelke's core knowledge taxonomy and test its boundaries. We ask whether Spelke's core knowledge is a distinct type of cognition in the sense that the cognitive processes it includes and excludes are biologically and mechanically coherent.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Addyman, C., & Mareschal, D. (2010). The perceptual origins of the abstract same/different concept in human infants. Animal Cognition, 13, 817833. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-010-0330-0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderson, E. M., Chang, Y., Hespos, S., & Gentner, D. (2018). Comparison within pairs promotes analogical abstraction in three-month-olds. Cognition, 176, 7486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.03.008CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baldwin, D. A. (1993). Early referential understanding: Infants’ ability to recognize referential acts for what they are. Developmental Psychology, 29(5), 832. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.29.5.832CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dehaene, S., Meyniel, F., Wacongne, C., Wang, L., & Pallier, C. (2015). The neural representation of sequences: From transition probabilities to algebraic patterns and linguistic trees. Neuron, 88(1), 219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2015.09.019CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dehaene-Lambertz, G., & Gliga, T. (2004). Common neural basis for phoneme processing in infants and adults. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16(8), 13751387. https://doi.org/10.1162/0898929042304714CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delamater, A. R., Desouza, A., Rivkin, Y., & Derman, R. (2014). Associative and temporal processes: A dual process approach. Behavioural Processes, 101, 3848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2013.09.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eimas, P. D., Siqueland, E. R., Jusczyk, P., & Vigorito, J. (1971). Speech perception in infants. Science, 171(3968), 303306. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.171.3968.303CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferrigno, S. (2022). Sequencing, artificial grammar, and recursion in primates. In Shwartz, B. L., & Beran, M. J. (Eds.), Primate cognitive studies (pp. 260290). Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrigno, S., Cheyette, S. J., Piantadosi, S. T., & Cantlon, J. F. (2020). Recursive sequence generation in monkeys, children, US adults, and native Amazonians. Science Advances, 6(26), eaaz1002. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz1002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferrigno, S., Jara-Ettinger, J., Piantadosi, S. T., & Cantlon, J. F. (2017). Universal and uniquely human factors in spontaneous number perception. Nature Communications, 8(1), 13968. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13968CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferry, A. L., Hespos, S. J., & Waxman, S. R. (2010). Categorization in 3- and 4-month-old infants: An advantage of words over tones. Child Development, 81(2), 472479. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01408.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Franklin, A., Drivonikou, G. V., Bevis, L., Davies, I. R., Kay, P., & Regier, T. (2008). Categorical perception of color is lateralized to the right hemisphere in infants, but to the left hemisphere in adults. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(9), 32213225. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0712286105CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friederici, A. D., Mueller, J. L., & Oberecker, R. (2011). Precursors to natural grammar learning: Preliminary evidence from 4-month-old infants. PLoS ONE, 6(3), e17920. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017920CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frost, R. L., Jessop, A., Durrant, S., Peter, M. S., Bidgood, A., Pine, J. M., … Monaghan, P. (2020). Non-adjacent dependency learning in infancy, and its link to language development. Cognitive Psychology, 120, 101291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2020.101291CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Futrell, R., Mahowald, K., & Gibson, E. (2015). Large-scale evidence of dependency length minimization in 37 languages. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(33), 1033610341. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1502134112CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garcia, J., & Koelling, R. A. (1966). Relation of cue to consequence in avoidance learning. Psychonomic Science, 4, 123124. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342209CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gebuis, T., Cohen Kadosh, R., De Haan, E., & Henik, A. (2009). Automatic quantity processing in 5-year olds and adults. Cognitive Processing, 10, 133142. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-008-0219-xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gentner, D., & Boroditsky, L. (2001). Individuation, relativity, and early word learning. Language Acquisition and Conceptual Development, 3, 215256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gervain, J., Macagno, F., Cogoi, S., Peña, M., & Mehler, J. (2008). The neonate brain detects speech structure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(37), 1422214227. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0806530105CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gliga, T., & Csibra, G. (2009). One-year-old infants appreciate the referential nature of deictic gestures and words. Psychological Science, 20(3), 347353. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02295.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldman, M., Lanson, R., & Brown, G. G. (1990). Wavelength categorization by goldfish (Carassius auratus). International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.46867/C4JS4XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstone, R. L., & Hendrickson, A. T. (2010). Categorical perception. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 1(1), 6978. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.26Google ScholarPubMed
Harnad, S. (1987). Psychophysical and cognitive aspects of categorical perception: A critical overview. In Harnad, S. (Ed.), Categorical perception: The groundwork of cognition (pp. 125). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Herman, L. M., Richards, D. G., & Wolz, J. P. (1984). Comprehension of sentences by bottlenosed dolphins. Cognition, 16(2), 129219. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(84)90003-9CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jiang, X., Long, T., Cao, W., Li, J., Dehaene, S., & Wang, L. (2018). Production of supra-regular spatial sequences by macaque monkeys. Current Biology, 28(12), 18511859. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.047CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jusczyk, P. W., Rosner, B. S., Cutting, J. E., Foard, C. F., & Smith, L. B. (1977). Categorical perception of nonspeech sounds by 2-month-old infants. Perception & Psychophysics, 21, 5054. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199467CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kako, E. (1999). Elements of syntax in the systems of three language-trained animals. Animal Learning & Behavior, 27, 114. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199424CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaminski, J., Call, J., & Fischer, J. (2004). Word learning in a domestic dog: Evidence for “fast mapping”. Science, 304(5677), 16821683. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1097859CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kasai, K., Yamada, H., Kamio, S., Nakagome, K., Iwanami, A., Fukuda, M., … Kato, N. (2003). Neuromagnetic correlates of impaired automatic categorical perception of speech sounds in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 59(2–3), 159172. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0920-9964(01)00382-6CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kluender, K. R., Lotto, A. J., Holt, L. L., & Bloedel, S. L. (1998). Role of experience for language-specific functional mappings of vowel sounds. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 104(6), 35683582. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.423939CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kotsoni, E., de Haan, M., & Johnson, M. H. (2001). Categorical perception of facial expressions by 7-month-old infants. Perception, 30(9), 11151125. https://doi.org/10.1068/p3155CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuhl, P. K. (1981). Discrimination of speech by nonhuman animals: Basic auditory sensitivities conducive to the perception of speech-sound categories. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 70(2), 340349. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.386782CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuhl, P. K., & Padden, D. M. (1982). Enhanced discriminability at the phonetic boundaries for the voicing feature in macaques. Perception & Psychophysics, 32(6), 542550. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03204208CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ley, A., Vroomen, J., Hausfeld, L., Valente, G., De Weerd, P., & Formisano, E. (2012). Learning of new sound categories shapes neural response patterns in human auditory cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(38), 1327313280. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0584-12.2012CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liao, D. A., Brecht, K. F., Johnston, M., & Nieder, A. (2022). Recursive sequence generation in crows. Science Advances, 8(44), eabq3356. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abq3356CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liberman, Z., Woodward, A. L., & Kinzler, K. D. (2017). The origins of social categorization. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21(7), 556568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2017.04.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Markman, E. M. (1991). The whole-object, taxonomic, and mutual exclusivity assumptions as initial constraints on word meanings. In Gelman, S. A., & Byrnes, J. P. (Eds.), Perspectives on language and thought: Interrelations in development (pp. 72106). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511983689.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMullen, E., & Saffran, J. R. (2004). Music and language: A developmental comparison. Music Perception, 21(3), 289311. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2004.21.3.289CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, G. A. (1967). The psychology of communication. Human Resource Management, 6(3), 43.Google Scholar
Moses, L. J., Baldwin, D. A., Rosicky, J. G., & Tidball, G. (2001). Evidence for referential understanding in the emotions domain at twelve and eighteen months. Child Development, 72(3), 718735. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00311CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Needham, A., Dueker, G., & Lockhead, G. (2005). Infants’ formation and use of categories to segregate objects. Cognition, 94(3), 215240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2004.02.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oakes, L. M., & Madole, K. L. (2003). Principles of developmental change in infants’ category formation. In Rakison, D. H., & Oakes, L. M. (Eds.), Early category and concept development: Making sense of the blooming, buzzing confusion (pp. 132158). Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelchat, M. L., & Rozin, P. (1982). The special role of nausea in the acquisition of food dislikes by humans. Appetite, 3(4), 341351. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0195-6663(82)80052-4CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piazza, M., Pica, P., Izard, V., Spelke, E. S., & Dehaene, S. (2013). Education enhances the acuity of the nonverbal approximate number system. Psychological Science, 24(6), 10371043. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612464057CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rabagliati, H., Ferguson, B., & Lew-Williams, C. (2019). The profile of abstract rule learning in infancy: Meta-analytic and experimental evidence. Developmental Science, 22(1), e12704. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12704CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rescorla, R. A., & Holland, P. C. (1982). Behavioral studies of associative learning in animals. Annual Review of Psychology, 33(1), 265308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samuelson, L. K., Smith, L. B., Perry, L. K., & Spencer, J. P. (2011). Grounding word learning in space. PLoS ONE, 6(12), e28095. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0028095CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Savage-Rumbaugh, E. S., Shanker, S., & Taylor, T. J. (1998). Apes, language, and the human mind. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoenemann, P. T. (2022). Evidence of grammatical knowledge in apes: An analysis of Kanzi's performance on reversible sentences. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 885605. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.885605CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spelke, E. S. (2022). What babies know: Core knowledge and composition volume 1 (Vol. 1). Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M., Carpenter, M., & Liszkowski, U. (2007). A new look at infant pointing. Child Development, 78(3), 705722. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01025.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werker, J. F., & Lalonde, C. E. (1988). Cross-language speech perception: Initial capabilities and developmental change. Developmental Psychology, 24(5), 672. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.24.5.672CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wynne, C. D., & Udell, M. A. (2013). Animal cognition: Evolution, behavior and cognition. Bloomsbury Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zipple, M. N., Caves, E. M., Green, P. A., Peters, S., Johnsen, S., & Nowicki, S. (2019). Categorical colour perception occurs in both signalling and non-signalling colour ranges in a songbird. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1903), 20190524. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0524Google Scholar