Infants' detection of correlations among feature categories.

The present study demonstrates that the infant's ability to detect correlations among attributes extends to correlations among feature categories of the type we might expect to be useful in forming natural object categories. 48 10- and 13-month-old infants were tested using an infant-control habituation procedure. Infants initially were exposed to as many as 12 different animals. 2 attributes were perfectly correlated within the set of habituation stimuli. For example, animals with feathered tails had ears, and animals with furry tails had antlers. The appearance of the correlated features varied across the set of 12 animals. Infants' sensitivity to the pattern of correlation existing within the habituation set was demonstrated by their responses to new stimuli following habituation. Infants generalized habituation to a new animal that preserved the experienced pattern of correlation, but showed an increase in looking to a stimulus that contained a novel combination of the same features.