SIMILARITY-BASED AND NONSIMILARITY-BASED CONCEPTUALIZATION IN CHILDREN AND PIGEONS

Authors including Lea (1984) have recently argued that true conceptual behavior is not based solely on perceptual similarity. We have develo ped a method for assessing nonsimilarity-based conceptualization in ch ildren that parallels an effective method for pigeons. This method has provided evidence that both species form classes of functionally equi valent, but perceptually different stimuli. Children and pigeons are t hus capable of similarity-based and nonsimilarity-based conceptualizat ion; in the former case differential reinforcement may be said to disc lose preexisting concepts, whereas in the latter it may be said to pro duce new ones. The similarity of pigeons' and children's categorizatio n behavior suggests that linguistic ability is not necessary for conce ptualization.