The role of labels and motions in infant category learning

Sučević, Jelena; Althaus, Nadja; Plunkett, Kim

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105062

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 39 publications

(103 reference statements)

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“…Similarly, the regression model found no evidence to suggest infants discriminated between these objects in their looking behaviour at test. This finding stands in contrast to previous studies suggesting an influence of functional movements [ 2 ] and object-initiated motions [ 6 ] on object categorization. In contrast to such cues that are more constrained by the affordances of the objects or are more intrinsic to the object (in the case of object-initiation motions), arbitrary actions are simply performed on the object and do not confer additional meaning to the action–object association.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…In the visual domain, other cues, such as non-verbal gestures and motions, have similarly been shown to facilitate categorization (e.g. [ 2 , 6 ]). However, gestures are linked in meaningful ways to the objects on which they are performed or to which they refer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A more recent study by Sučević et al . [ 6 ] investigated the effect of words and motions in visual category learning. Here, 10-month-olds were given the opportunity to explore objects from two novel categories that were accompanied by either a word, a motion (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Words and arbitrary actions in early object categorization: weak evidence for a word advantage

Bothe,

Trouillet,

Elsner

et al. 2024

R. Soc. Open Sci.

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Both words and gestures have been shown to influence object categorization, often even overriding perceptual similarities to cue category membership. However, gestures are often meaningful to infants while words are arbitrarily related to an object they refer to, more similar to arbitrary actions that can be performed on objects. In this study, we examine how words and arbitrary actions shape category formation. Across three conditions (word cue, action cue, word–action cue), we presented infants ( N = 90) with eight videos of single-category objects which vary in colour and other perceptual features. The objects were either accompanied by a word and/or an action that is being performed on the object. Infants in the word and action condition showed a decrease in looking over the course of the familiarization phase indicating habituation to the category, but infants in the word–action condition did not. At test, infants saw a novel object of the just-learned category and a novel object from another category side-by-side on the screen. There was some evidence for an advantage for words in shaping early object categorization, although we note that this was not robust across analyses.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Words and arbitrary actions in early object categorization: weak evidence for a word advantage

Bothe,

Trouillet,

Elsner

et al. 2024

R. Soc. Open Sci.

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“…Previous studies employing gaze-contingent eye-tracking have shown that infants quickly learn the association between looking towards a specific area on the screen and certain types of information or stimuli being presented (Bazhydai et al, 2022;Keemink et al, 2019;Miyazaki et al, 2015;Sučević et al, 2021;Tummeltshammer et al, 2014;Zettersten, 2020). It is therefore a powerful method to implement an active component into a structured study design.…”

Section: Need For a New Paradigmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Curious Choices: Infants’ moment-to-moment information sampling is driven by their exploration history

Altmann,

Bazhydai,

Westermann

2023

Preprint

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Infants explore the world around them based on their intrinsically motivated curiosity. However, the cognitive mechanisms underlying such curiosity-driven exploratory behaviour remain largely unknown. Here, infants could freely explore two novel categories, triggering a new exemplar from a category by fixating on either of the two associated areas on a computer screen. This gaze-contingent design enabled us to distinguish between exploration – switching from one category to the other – and exploitation – consecutively triggering exemplars from the same category. Data from 10-12-month-old infants (N=68) indicated that moment-to-moment sampling choices were non-random but guided by the infants’ exploration history. Self-generated sequences grouped into three clusters of more explorative, exploitative, and balanced sampling patterns. Bayesian hierarchical binomial regression models indicated that across sequence patterns, infants’ longer trigger time, shorter looking time, and more gaze-shifting were associated with trial-by-trial decisions to disengage from exploiting one category and making an exploratory switch, especially after consecutively viewed stimuli of high similarity. These findings offer novel insights into infants’ curiosity-driven exploration and pave the way for future investigations, also regarding individual differences.

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The role of labels and motions in infant category learning

Cited by 2 publications

References 39 publications

Words and arbitrary actions in early object categorization: weak evidence for a word advantage

Words and arbitrary actions in early object categorization: weak evidence for a word advantage

Curious Choices: Infants’ moment-to-moment information sampling is driven by their exploration history

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