Taking stock as theories of word learning take shape

Booth, Amy E.; Waxman, Sandra R.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00664.x

Cited by 69 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 112 publications

(187 reference statements)

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“…Neither is it simply correlations between objects and attractive outcomes (also see Booth, 2008). Because statistical regularities relating object properties to each other cannot be computed on the basis of a single exemplar, the results from Experiment 3 are also consistent with the notion that early conceptual development relies on more than simple associative mechanisms broadly speaking (e.g., Booth & Waxman, 2008; Gelman & Diesendruck, 1999; Gopnik, et al, 2004; Markson, Diesendruck, & Bloom, 2008). …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

“…Each of these cues have been shown to both facilitate categorization in infancy (Booth, 2006, 2008; Booth & Waxman, 2002) and to support kind-based extensions after a single learning trial in older children (e.g., Behrend, Scofield, & Kleinknecht, 2001; Booth, Waxman, & Huang, 2005; Waxman & Booth, 2000). All are salient even in infancy, and are tightly tied to concepts throughout development (Booth & Waxman, 2008; Booth, et al, 2005; Gopnik & Schulz, 2007; Kemler Nelson, et al, 2000; Sobel & Kirkham, 2007). The current studies join others (e.g., Booth, 2006; Waxman & Braun, 2005) in diminishing the importance of their perceptual salience in supporting early categorization.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Specifying the role of function in infant categorization

Booth

Schuler

Zajicek

2010

Infant Behavior and Development

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Research demonstrates that object functions facilitate artifact categorization in infancy. To explicate the nature and magnitude of this effect, 16-month-olds participated in three studies. In Experiment 1, categorization was facilitated more by object functions than by distinctive motions, suggesting that the motion properties of function cannot fully explain its influence. In Experiment 2, infants failed to categorize when each category exemplar performed a different function, thus revealing the importance of shared functionality in facilitating categorization. In Experiment 3, infants were tested after each new exemplar was introduced. When object functions were provided during training, infants were more likely to appropriately extend the novel categories on the very first trial. This suggests that function reduces the need for exposure to multiple exemplars in forming categories. Together, these findings confirm the conceptual nature of the facilitative effect of function on early categorization. KeywordsCategorization; Function; Comparison; Causal relations; Infancy A wealth of evidence demonstrates that object function exerts a powerful organizing force on early categorization (Booth & Waxman, 2002;Greco, Hayne, & Rovee-Collier, 1990;Horst, Oakes, & Madole, 2005;Kemler Nelson, Frankenfield, Morris, & Blair, 2000;Nelson & Ware, 2002;Träuble & Pauen, 2007). Not only do object functions directly influence decisions that infants and toddlers make regarding category membership, they also facilitate the formation of new categories, exemplars of which can later be identified on the basis of less transient object properties (like shape or color). For example, Booth and Waxman (2002) demonstrated that 14-and 18-month-old infants extend novel artifact categories on the basis of perceptual similarity more readily when provided with information about object function than when exposed to other perceptual object properties alone.Infants in Booth and Waxman (2002) first observed an experimenter manipulate four examples of a novel artifact category. For some infants, the experimenter demonstrated how each object functioned on a uniquely designed apparatus while directing the infant to `look what I can do with this one.' For other infants, the experimenter simply picked up each object while directing the infant to `look at this one.' The experimenter then held up a contrast object drawn from a perceptually different category and highlighted that it did not © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved Requests for reprints should be sent to Amy Booth, Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Frances Searle Building, 2240 North Campus Drive, Evanston, IL, 60028. abooth@northwestern.edu.. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Specifying the role of function in infant categorization

Booth

Schuler

Zajicek

2010

Infant Behavior and Development

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“…There are both extensive empirical findings and multiple theoretical accounts of the shape bias in children’s early noun generalizations (e.g., Booth and Waxman, 2008; Colunga and Smith, 2008). Three classes of formal computational models have specifically considered the factors relevant to developmental changes in the shape bias and the relation of those changes to noun vocabulary growth.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are a number of theoretical accounts that differ in the hypothesized nature of these expectations (e.g., Smith et al, 2002; Colunga and Smith, 2005; Kemp et al, 2007; Booth and Waxman, 2008). The present question about the shape bias does not concern these expectations about noun category mappings, but rather concerns the aspects of children’s representations of object shape that are measured by the task.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Visual Object Recognition Precede the Shape Bias in Early Noun Learning

Yee¹,

Jones²,

Smith³

2012

Front. Psychology

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Two of the most formidable skills that characterize human beings are language and our prowess in visual object recognition. They may also be developmentally intertwined. Two experiments, a large sample cross-sectional study and a smaller sample 6-month longitudinal study of 18- to 24-month-olds, tested a hypothesized developmental link between changes in visual object representation and noun learning. Previous findings in visual object recognition indicate that children’s ability to recognize common basic level categories from sparse structural shape representations of object shape emerges between the ages of 18 and 24 months, is related to noun vocabulary size, and is lacking in children with language delay. Other research shows in artificial noun learning tasks that during this same developmental period, young children systematically generalize object names by shape, that this shape bias predicts future noun learning, and is lacking in children with language delay. The two experiments examine the developmental relation between visual object recognition and the shape bias for the first time. The results show that developmental changes in visual object recognition systematically precede the emergence of the shape bias. The results suggest a developmental pathway in which early changes in visual object recognition that are themselves linked to category learning enable the discovery of higher-order regularities in category structure and thus the shape bias in novel noun learning tasks. The proposed developmental pathway has implications for understanding the role of specific experience in the development of both visual object recognition and the shape bias in early noun learning.

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“…, or by the basic perceptual and cognitive machinery that supports many types of learning (Colunga & Smith, 2008;Samuelson & Smith, 1998; though see Booth & Waxman, 2008). These are often seen as competing accounts, though there have been attempts to integrate various components of the accounts into a single framework for explaining word learning (e.g., Hollich et al, 2000).…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

Preschool Children's Multimodal Word Learning

Scofield

Hernandez‐Reif

Keith

2009

Journal of Cognition and Development

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Two studies used a new paradigm to examine preschool children's (i.e., 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds) word learning across multiple sense modalities. In Study 1 (n ¼ 60), children heard a word for an object that they touched but did not see, while word learning was examined using objects that were seen but not touched. In Study 2 (n ¼ 60), children heard a word for an object that they saw but did not touch, while word learning was examined using objects that were touched but not seen. Findings from both studies revealed that children were able to learn words by coordinating information across multiple sense modalities and that word learning improved with age. These findings are discussed in terms of E. J. Gibson's differentiation theory (1969, 1988).

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Taking stock as theories of word learning take shape

Cited by 69 publications

References 112 publications

Specifying the role of function in infant categorization

Specifying the role of function in infant categorization

Changes in Visual Object Recognition Precede the Shape Bias in Early Noun Learning

Preschool Children's Multimodal Word Learning

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