Preschoolers' extension of novel words to animals and artifacts.
We examined whether preschoolers' ontological knowledge would influence lexical extension. In Experiment 1, four-year-olds were presented with a novel label for either an object with eyes described as an animal, or the same object without eyes described as a tool. In the animal condition, children extended the label to similar-shaped objects, whereas in the tool condition, children extended the label to similar-function objects. In Experiment 2, when four-year-olds were presented with objects with eyes described as tools, they extended the label on the basis of shared function. These experiments suggest that preschoolers' conceptual knowledge guides their lexical extension.
Graham
Susan A
SA
Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4 Canada. grahams@ucalgary.ca
Welder
Andrea N
AN
Merrifield
Beverley A
BA
Berman
Jared M J
JM
D002675:Child, Preschool; D032882:Comprehension; D003210:Concept Formation; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D005793:Generalization, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D012660:Semantics; D014706:Verbal Learning; D014825:Vocabulary