TY - JOUR
T1 - Learning words from pictures
T2 - 15- and 17-month-old infants appreciate the referential and symbolic links among words, pictures, and objects
AU - Geraghty, Kathleen
AU - Waxman, Sandra R.
AU - Gelman, Susan A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by NSF BCS-0950376 to SRW. We are grateful to Ilana Clift for assistance with coding and to the children and caregivers who participated.
PY - 2014/10
Y1 - 2014/10
N2 - This experiment was designed to clarify the referential status of infants' newly learned words. We introduced 15- and 17-month-olds to a novel noun, presented in conjunction with pictures of two whisks that differed in color (one purple, one orange). We asked whether infants would extend this newly learned noun to other members of the same kind (other whisks), one differing only in color (a picture of a silver whisk) and another differing in both color and representational medium (a real three-dimensional silver whisk). Fifteen- and 17-month-olds' interpretation of the novel noun was not tethered tightly to the perceptual features with which the word had previously been paired. Instead, their interpretation was sufficiently abstract to include a new member of the same object category, although it differed in color and representational medium (a real silver whisk). Thus, by 15 months, infants appreciate the referential status of words and extend their meaning flexibly from pictures to objects.
AB - This experiment was designed to clarify the referential status of infants' newly learned words. We introduced 15- and 17-month-olds to a novel noun, presented in conjunction with pictures of two whisks that differed in color (one purple, one orange). We asked whether infants would extend this newly learned noun to other members of the same kind (other whisks), one differing only in color (a picture of a silver whisk) and another differing in both color and representational medium (a real three-dimensional silver whisk). Fifteen- and 17-month-olds' interpretation of the novel noun was not tethered tightly to the perceptual features with which the word had previously been paired. Instead, their interpretation was sufficiently abstract to include a new member of the same object category, although it differed in color and representational medium (a real silver whisk). Thus, by 15 months, infants appreciate the referential status of words and extend their meaning flexibly from pictures to objects.
KW - Conceptual development
KW - Developmental theories
KW - Infants
KW - Learning from pictures
KW - Representation
KW - Symbolic development
KW - Word learning
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cogdev.2014.04.003
DO - 10.1016/j.cogdev.2014.04.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84906084545
VL - 32
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Cognitive Development
JF - Cognitive Development
SN - 0885-2014
ER -