Infants' use of shared linguistic information to clarify ambiguous requests.
Do infants use past linguistic information to interpret an ambiguous request for an object? When infants in this research were shown 2 objects, and asked for 1 with an indefinite request (e.g., "Can you get it for me?"), both 15- and 18-month-olds used the speaker's previous reference to an absent object to interpret the request. The 18-month-olds did so even when the request was made after a 2.5-min delay. When the request was made by a person who did not participate in the conversation, the infants did not use the previous verbal information. These results demonstrate infants' ability to use language as a source of information in ambiguous contexts and indicate an early appreciation of the shared nature of conversation.
Ganea
Patricia A
PA
Department of Psychology, University of Virginia 22904, USA. pas5a@virginia.edu
Saylor
Megan M
MM
D000367:Age Factors; D003142:Communication; D003210:Concept Formation; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007804:Language Development; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012660:Semantics; D014825:Vocabulary