The role of the structure of parts and of the overall object shape in children's generalization of novel object names
Category
Journal Article
Authors
Gelaes, S., Thibaut, J.-P.
Year
2006
Title
The role of the structure of parts and of the overall object shape in children's generalization of novel object names
Journal / book / conference
Cognitive Development
Abstract
We investigated the role of the structure of stimuli and their functional affordance on novel name generalization. Three- and 5-year-old children and adults were shown a training object with two possible functions, each one associated with a different part. They were taught about the name and the function of the object. We compared the classifications obtained for transfer stimuli composed of one part of the training stimulus-functional or not, perceptually transformed or not, or composed of all the original training parts. Even young children generalized the novel name to functional one-part transfer objects and disregarded non-functional or dysfunctional objects, although their generalizations were more constrained by perceptual similarity than that of the adults.
Issue
3
Volume
21
Pages
369-376