Knowledge development about natural objects and artifacts: A new tool for assessing the semantic memory development in 5 to 9 years old children

Although semantic memory organization in adults is relatively well-documented today, semantic knowledge development in children is still a matter of debate. This paper aims to describe the adaptation of Laiacona, Barbarotto, Trivelli and Capitani’s (1993) semantic knowledge questionnaire for a population of children. The adapted version provides a practical tool for the evaluation of semantic knowledge in children of 5, 7, and 9 years old, and could represent an original instrument for quantifying the relative importance of perceptual, taxonomical, and functional/thematical aspects in semantic memory development. The test consists of a questionnaire about 15 natural and 15 manufactured objects with questions about their categorical, perceptual and functional/thematic connections. 93 children (30 five-year-olds, 30 seven-year-olds, and 33 nine-year-olds) were tested. The results show that, in the populations considered, our questionnaire does indeed bring to light a gradual development of semantic knowledge correlated with age.