Variability and its sources in infant categorization

Variability of infants' categorization performance and potential sources of this variability were investigated. Using data from 13 categorization studies employing a habituation-of-looking paradigm with infants 3, 5, 6, and 9 months of age, a method for establishing a categorization criterion was developed and then used to classify individual infants as "categorizers" for particular tasks. Logistic regression analyses were then used to identify demographic and information-proces sing variables that predicted "categorizer" classification. Variables that increased the odds of being classified as a categorizer were gender, number of habituation trials, and duration of peak look during habituation; total looking time during habituation decreased the odds of categorizer classification. These findings are discussed in the context of individual differences in information processing. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.