From Similarity to Conceptual--How Pictophonetic Chinese Characters Facilitate Inductive Reasoning in 5- to 10-Year-Old Children

One important function of categories is to support inductive inferences. Prior work shows that children use linguistic labels to guide their inductive inferences. However, the function of a linguistic label and whether the labeling conveys conceptual information or information about similarities and the development trajectory of induction ability remain unclear. This study used pictophonetic characters to explore how semantic radicals which carried category information affect inductive reasoning among children aged 5‒10 years. Three experiments were conducted with no cue, weak cue, and strong cue conditions. The results showed that children are more inclined to reason according to the phonetic radicals similarity in the no cue condition. As the strength of the cue prompts intensify, they begin to favor reasoning according to semantic radicals. The results also showed that compare to older children younger children are more likely to reason according to sensory similarities (phonetic radical), while older children tend to reason according to concepts—in the no cue condition, these differences were primarily observed between the 7- to 8- and 9- to 10-year-old groups, while in the weak cue and strong cue conditions, they were predominantly observed in the 5- to 6- and 9- to 10-year-old groups. 7–8 years old may be the turning point that children shift from similarity-based induction to category-based induction. The study concludes that the development of orthographic awareness and literacy in Chinese children influences their transition from perceptual to conceptual reasoning. The strength of cues significantly impacts the accuracy of semantic radical selection, highlighting the importance of educational interventions in enhancing children's categorization skills. The findings also underscore the need for further research to understand the role of different character structures in inductive categorization.