This chapter focuses on the very beginnings of categorization in early infancy. Following a general introduction, the authors provide the reader with an overview of methods and paradigms suitable for assessing category discrimination at the behavioural (section, Behavioural measures of preverbal categorization) and at the neurophysiological electroencephalogram (EEG) level (section, EEG methods for studying infant categorization at a preverbal age). Then, the authors summarize main empirical findings on auditory (section, Infant categorization in the auditory domain), visual (section, Infant categorization in the visual domain), and intermodal categorization (section, Intermodal categorization and cross-modal influences on infant categorization), as information processing in these areas is crucial for understanding the emergence of semantic memory. Finally, the authors draw some general conclusions and suggest some promising lines for future research (section, Concluding Remarks).
Examining the neural correlates of within-category discrimination in face and non-face expert recognition
