| Abstract: | Investigated developmental changes in semantic structure using the INDSCAL multidimensional scaling procedure. Dissimilarity judgments of all possible parts of 10 animal names were obtained from 39 1st-, 3rd-, 6th-grade, and college students. The overall scaling solution revealed a semantic space consisting of the features of size, domesticity, and predativity. Further analyses revealed that this structure changes with development inasmuch as the perceptual feature of size becomes less salient and the more abstract features of predativity and domesticity becomes more salient. This finding is compared to those from earlier research in which other techniques were used, and it is concluded that multidimensional scaling is a useful tool for determining developmental changes in semantic structure. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
