Induction, the ability to generalize knowledge from known to
novel instances, is essential for human learning. This study
investigates how attention allocation during category learning
and induction affects what information is represented and
encoded to memory. In Experiment 1 5-year-olds and adults
learned rule-based categories. They were then presented with
an Induction-then-Recognition task. Similar to previous
results with familiar categories, children exhibited better
memory for items than adults. In Experiment 2, adults learned
similarity-based categories and then were presented with an
Induction-then-Recognition task. In this condition, adults’
memory was as good as children’s memory in Experiment 1.
These results indicate that the way categories are represented
affects the way induction is performed.