It's a sign of the kind: gestures and words guide infants' inductive inferences.
The role of words and gestures in guiding infants' inductive inferences about nonobvious properties was examined. One hundred seventy-two 14-month-olds and 22-month-olds were presented with novel target objects followed by test objects that varied in similarity to the target. Objects were introduced with a novel word or a novel gesture or with no label. When target and test objects were highly similar in shape, both 14- and 22-month-olds inferred that these objects shared a nonobvious property, regardless of whether the objects were labeled with a word or a gesture or with no label. When objects were labeled with the same word, both 14- and 22-month-olds generalized the nonobvious properties to objects that shared minimal perceptual similarity. Finally, when objects were labeled with the same gesture, 14-month-olds, but not 22-month-olds, generalized the nonobvious properties to objects that shared minimal perceptual similarity. These results indicate that 14-month-olds possess a more generalized symbolic system as they will rely on both words and gestures to guide their inferences. By 22-months of age, infants treat words as a privileged referential form when making inductive inferences.
Graham
Susan A
SA
Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada. grahams@ucalgary.ca
Kilbreath
Cari S
CS
D000367:Age Factors; D003118:Color Perception; D003210:Concept Formation; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D005795:Generalization, Stimulus; D005868:Gestures; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011340:Problem Solving; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012660:Semantics; D012858:Size Perception; D014706:Verbal Learning