What is it about?

Children generalized a label for a novel object less broadly if they had previously focused on details of the object that distinguished it from similar objects. This effect was evident in children ages 4 through 8, but not in adults. The effect was found for man-made objects, but not toy animals.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Current theories of children's word learning need to be revised to explain this result. These theories do not acknowledge the possibility that a child's representation of the details, or highly specific features, of an object might affect how the child categorizes the object or interprets a label for it.

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Children’s interpretation of a label for an individuated object: Dependence on age and ontological kind, First Language, May 2016, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0142723716648848.
You can read the full text:

Read

Contributors

The following have contributed to this page