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In the current event-related potential (ERP) study, we assessed whether 4-year-olds’ unconventional verb extensions are driven by abstract relational similarities or superficial object-based similarities. Participants were presented with images of action (e.g., peeling an orange) while hearing sentences containing a conventional verb (e.g., peeling), an unconventional verb sharing either an abstract relation (i.e., an approximate verb, e.g., undressing) or an object (i.e., superficially related verb, e.g., pressing) with the action, or a pseudoverb (e.g., kebraying). The amplitude of the N400 gradually increased as a function of verb type: from conventional verbs, to approximate verbs, to superficially related verbs to pseudoverbs. These findings suggest that processing of unconventional verb extensions based on abstract relations requires less cognitive effort than integrating those based on objects. Our results illustrate that measuring brain signals in response to unconventional word extensions provides a useful tool to investigate preschools’ analogical abilities.

Whereas surface and structural features are often correlated in real-life situations, it is necessary to disentangle them in experimental situations to determine their respective influence in driving analogical retrieval. We introduce a free-reminding experimental paradigm to assess the types of autobiographical memories which are elicited when target cues show typical associations (Experiment 1), or less typical associations (Experiment 2) between surface and structural features. Experiment 1 showed that fully-fledged structural similarities, and to a lesser extent partial structural similarities, have a significant influence on the retrieval of superficially similar situations. By setting a retrieval competition between surface and structural similarities, Experiment 2 provides support to our structural superiority hypothesis that superficially dissimilar analogs are more frequently retrieved than superficially similar disanalogs. Our data are consistent with the view that the conjunction of surface and structural similarities is highly efficient in driving retrieval, but that structural overcomes surface similarities when they are dissociated.

Cornerstone of learning, cognitive flexibility allows us to cope with a constantly changing environment. By adapting our knowledge and habits in order to respond to new situations, cognitive flexibility plays a fundamental role in learning.This book proposes a study of the fundamental notions of cognitive flexibility: its measurement and development, its links with metacognition and critical thinking, the role of context in its expression, as well as its involvement in solution discovery, transfer of knowledge and analogy. Convergent perspectives are also presented in order to draw a picture of cognitive flexibility and discuss the issues at stake.Thanks to the combined views of specialists in cognitive and developmental psychology, Cognitive Flexibility suggests new educational tracks based on the results of empirical work on the subject.Coordinated byEvelyne Clément is a full professor at CY Cergy Paris Université, France. She is deputy director of the Paragraphe laboratory. Her research focuses on the cognitive and conative processes involved in learning and problem solving. Her interests especially include the study of cognitive flexibility and the more prone conditions of its expression.

International audience; This study investigates whether the ERPs of 4-years-olds in response to verbal overextensions reflect the encoding of actions through abstract categories. Participants were presented with images of actions (e.g. peeling an orange) while hearing a sentence containing a conventional verb (e.g. peeling), an approximative verb (e.g. undressing), a superficially related verb (e.g. pressing) or a pseudoverb (e.g. rauging). The N400 for approximative verbs significantly differed from the pseudoverb condition, but not from the conventional verb condition. In contrast, the N400 for superficially related verbs was significantly greater than for conventional verbs, but no significant difference was found with the pseudoverb condition. These results confirm our hypothesis that encoding mainly focuses on general categories (e.g. taking of an envelope). The implications of the findings are discussed regarding the conceptual organization of preschoolers and their analogical abilities.

In the present study, we tested the assumption that structural similarity overcomes surface similarity in the retrieval of past events, by observing whether structural similarity alone is a better cue than surface similarity alone. To do so, in three story-recall experiments, we provided the participants with multiple source stories and then with a target cue story. This target cue only shared surface similarity with one source story, and structural similarity with another source story. In Experiment 1A, a Superficially Similar Disanalog source story (SSD) and a Superficially Dissimilar Analog source story (SDA) were presented among Superficially Dissimilar Disanalog source stories (SDDs). A soundness rating task was used in Experiment 1B to control the absence of structural similarity among the SSDs presented in Experiment 1A. In Experiment 2, the number of SSDs was increased in the aim to reproduce more ecological conditions. In Experiment 3, a filler task was introduced and supplementary source stories were presented in order to make the study more similar to previous story-recall paradigms. The results of the three story-recall experiments support the dominance of structural over surface similarities in analogical retrieval. The role of a structurally-based access regarding the retrieval of Superficially Similar Analogs (SSAs) and SDAs is discussed, as well as the factors underlying the rare occurrence of SDAs retrievals in previous experiments. Submission Files Included in this PDF File Name [File Type] cover letter_ActaPsychologica.pdf [Cover Letter] Highlights_ActaPsychologica.pdf [Highlights] Abstract_ActaPsychologica.pdf [Abstract] Manuscript_ActaPsychologica.pdf [Manuscript File]

International audience

International audience

International audience

International audience

International audience

International audience

International audience