title: Learning about tool categories via eavesdropping.
abstract: Prior research has found that toddlers will form enduring artifact categories after direct exposure to an adult using a novel tool. Four studies explored whether 2- (N=48) and 3-year-olds (N=32) demonstrate this same capacity when learning by eavesdropping. After surreptitiously observing an adult use 1 of 2 artifacts to operate a bell via a monitor, 3-year-olds returned to the demonstrated kind of tool as "for" the task and avoided it for an alternative task over 2 days. Two-year-olds performed similarly after eavesdropping on someone with more discriminable artifacts via the method of a window rather than a monitor. These results demonstrate that toddlers can acquire enduring artifact categories after less than 40 s of surreptitious observation.
authors.affiliation: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. phillips@seas.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Seston
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kelemen
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*