Thanks to analogical thinking we group men and mice into the class of mammals or we visualize atoms as a planet (the nucleus) with the satellites spinning around (the electrons). It is a cognitive ability that no other animal possesses, with the exception of primates on rare occasions . But at what point do we acquire that sophisticated ability to find similarities between different objects or concepts?
Well, according to research carried out by the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) and the University of Trieste, babies make analogies even before they speak. To verify this, the study's main author, Alissa Ferry, worked with children between seven and nine months, who were shown puppets with different features.
Ferry found that the little ones were, indeed, capable of finding the similarities between the dolls, although they needed several attempts to do so. Thus he confirmed that the ability to make analogies precedes linguistics, and also that it takes some experience to discern similarities and differences. Analog thinking appears very early, but it does not come “out of the box”.
