Children’s Generalization of Novel Relational Nouns in Comparison Contexts: An Eye Tracking Analysis
Category
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Eleanor Stansbury, Arnaud Witt, Jean-Pierre Thibaut
Year
2021
Title
Children’s Generalization of Novel Relational Nouns in Comparison Contexts: An Eye Tracking Analysis
Journal / book / conference
In Proceedings of the 43th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
Abstract
Comparison settings (i.e. several stimuli introduced
simultaneously) favor novel word learning and generalization.
This study investigates the temporal dynamics of 6-year-olds
solving strategies in a relational noun (e.g. “x is the dax for y”)
comparison and generalization task with eye tracking data. We
manipulated conceptual distance between the task’s items and
recorded children’s performances and eye tracking data. We
analyze and interpret solving strategies following the
predictions made by two hypotheses, the Projection-First and
Alignment-first. Eye tracking data clearly revealed that
children, first, extract the relation from comparisons of items
within a pair and search for a match for the extracted relation,
which confirms the predictions of the projection-first
hypothesis. Further analyses on error and correct trials sug
Pages
2808 - 2814
Keywords
comparison; generalization: eye tracking measures; strategies; relational nouns.