Object names and object functions serve as cues to categories for infants.

Booth, Amy E.; Waxman, Sandra R.

doi:10.1037/0012-1649.38.6.948

Cited by 168 publications

(226 citation statements)

References 63 publications

(110 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

203

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Even infants aged 1 ; 6 and younger are sensitive to the function of objects (e.g. Barnat, Klein & Meltzoff, 1996 ;Booth & Waxman, 2002 ;Madole, Oakes & Cohen, 1993) and it has been shown that at least three-year-olds understand and remember simple functions of novel objects, similar to the ones used in our experiment (e.g. Diesendruck, Markson & Bloom, 2003 ;Smith et al, 1996).…”

Section: G E N E R a L Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Children's preference for HAS and LOCATED relations: A word learning bias for noun–noun compounds

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A B S T R A C TThe present study investigates children's bias when interpreting novel noun-noun compounds (e.g. kig donka) that refer to combinations of novel objects (kig and donka). More specifically, it investigates children's understanding of modifier-head relations of the compounds and their preference for HAS or LOCATED relations (e.g. a donka that HAS a kig or a donka that is LOCATED near a kig) rather than a FOR relation (e.g. a donka that is used FOR kigs). In a forced-choice paradigm, two-and three-year-olds preferred interpretations with HAS/LOCATED relations, while five-year-olds and adults showed no preference for either interpretation. We discuss possible explanations for this preference and its relation to another word learning bias that is based on perceptual features of the referent objects, i.e. the shape bias. We argue that children initially focus on a perceptual stability rather than a pure conceptual stability when interpreting the meaning of nouns.

show abstract

Section: G E N E R a L Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Children's preference for HAS and LOCATED relations: A word learning bias for noun–noun compounds

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One property that is deeply embedded in our everyday experiences with objects and that infants (as well as children and adults) find particularly salient when viewing physical events is object function. Function is defined here as an agent produced action on an object that the object affords and/or for which it was intended, either by design or through conventional use (for related definitions see Booth, 2006;Booth & Waxman, 2002a;Casler & Kelemen, 2007;Kemler Nelson, 1995. Affordances are intimately linked to the structure and the substance of an object and occur naturally or inevitably.…”

Section: Increasing Infants' Sensitivity To Color By Making Color Funmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, young infants detect the functional relation between object parts and surfaces and use objects in ways that are consistent with these relations (Bourgeois, Khawar, Neal, & Lockman, 2005;Gibson & Walker, 1984;Molina & Jouen, 1998;Palmer, 1989;Ruff, 1984). Infants 8 to 18 months of age manipulate objects on the basis of the functions they afford (Freeman, Lloyd, & Sinha, 1980;Pier-LeBonniec, 1985), generalize functional properties to objects similar in appearance or that share important characteristics (Baldwin, Markman, & Melartin, 1993;Booth & Waxman, 2002a), and attend to novel ways objects can be used and imitate those actions (Meltzoff, 1988a,b). In addition, older infants and young children use object function as the basis for which to categorize objects, make inferences about the function of an object based on category membership, and extend labels to novel objects that function in a similar way (Booth, 2000(Booth, , 2006Booth & Waxman, 2002a;Kemler Nelson, 1995;Kemler Nelson, Frankenfield, Morris, & Blair, 2000;Kemler Nelson, Russell, Duke, & Jones, 2000;Madole & Cohen, 1995).…”

Section: Increasing Infants' Sensitivity To Color By Making Color Funmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Infants 8 to 18 months of age manipulate objects on the basis of the functions they afford (Freeman, Lloyd, & Sinha, 1980;Pier-LeBonniec, 1985), generalize functional properties to objects similar in appearance or that share important characteristics (Baldwin, Markman, & Melartin, 1993;Booth & Waxman, 2002a), and attend to novel ways objects can be used and imitate those actions (Meltzoff, 1988a,b). In addition, older infants and young children use object function as the basis for which to categorize objects, make inferences about the function of an object based on category membership, and extend labels to novel objects that function in a similar way (Booth, 2000(Booth, , 2006Booth & Waxman, 2002a;Kemler Nelson, 1995;Kemler Nelson, Frankenfield, Morris, & Blair, 2000;Kemler Nelson, Russell, Duke, & Jones, 2000;Madole & Cohen, 1995). Particularly relevant to the present research is that categorizing objects on the basis of object function can direct infants' attention to other perceptible commonalities among those objects (Booth, 2000).…”

Section: Increasing Infants' Sensitivity To Color By Making Color Funmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is evidence from a number of laboratories using a wide range of tasks indicating that when infants attempt to make sense of objects and the physical events in which they engage, infants are selective in the type of information to which they attend and use as the basis for building object and event categories (e.g., Baillargeon & Wang, 2002;Booth & Waxman, 2002a;Kemler Neslon, Frankenfield et al, 2000;. There is also evidence that once an object or event category has been identified, infants are then able to identify other commonalities among the objects (Booth, 2002(Booth, , 2006.…”

Section: The Function Of Event Categoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Color–function categories that prime infants to use color information in an object individuation task

Wilcox

Woods

Chapa

2008

Cognitive Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is evidence for developmental hierarchies in the type of information to which infants attend when reasoning about objects. Investigators have questioned the origin of these hierarchies and how infants come to identify new sources of information when reasoning about objects. The goal of the present experiments was to shed light on this debate by identifying conditions under which infants' sensitivity to color information, which is slow to emerge, could be enhanced in an object individuation task. The outcome of Experiment 1 confirmed and extended previous reports that 9.5-month-olds can be primed, through exposure to events in which the color of an object predicts its function, to attend to color differences in a subsequent individuation task. The outcomes of Experiments 2 to 4 revealed age-related changes in the nature of the representations that support color priming. This is exemplified by three main findings. First, the representations that are formed during the colorfunction events are relatively specific. That is, infants are primed to use the color difference seen in the color-function events to individuate objects in the test events, but not other color differences. Second, 9.5-month-olds can be led to form more abstract event representations, and then generalize to other colors in the test events if they are shown multiple pairs of colors in the color-function events. Third, slightly younger 9-month-olds also can be led to form more inclusive categories with multiple color pairs, but only when they are allowed to directly compare the exemplars in each color pair during the present events. These results shed light on the development of categorization abilities, cognitive mechanisms that support color-function priming, and the kinds of experiences that can increase infants' sensitivity to color information.

show abstract

Early World Learning

Waxman

Lidz

2007

Handbook of Child Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Object names and object functions serve as cues to categories for infants.

Cited by 168 publications

References 63 publications

Children's preference for HAS and LOCATED relations: A word learning bias for noun–noun compounds

Children's preference for HAS and LOCATED relations: A word learning bias for noun–noun compounds

Color–function categories that prime infants to use color information in an object individuation task

Early World Learning

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About