RESUMEN
To become skilled artifact users, children must learn the actions and functions associated with artifacts. We investigated preschoolers' ability to fast map an action, function and name associated with a novel artifact, and retain the new mapping long term following brief incidental exposure to the artifact being used. In Experiment 1, 3- and 5-year-olds (Nâ¯=â¯144) were tested 1â¯week after two exposures to a novel action, function, and name. Participants performed well on comprehension tests of all three kinds of information. In Experiment 2, 3-year-olds (Nâ¯=â¯100) were exposed to these three kinds of information only once. Retention of the action-artifact link was above chance levels, whereas retention of function and the name was not. Finally, in Experiment 3, 4-year-olds (Nâ¯=â¯128) performed well on an action production task 1â¯week after brief exposure. In contrast, their performance on a name production task immediately after exposure was poor. Our data suggest that preschoolers can retain function information about a novel artifact from minimal exposure, similar to their ability to learn an artifact name. Crucially, their ability to remember action-artifact mappings is markedly better than their ability to remember functions and names.
Asunto(s)
Comprensión/fisiología , Desarrollo del Lenguaje , Recuerdo Mental/fisiología , Niño , Preescolar , Femenino , Humanos , Aprendizaje/fisiología , Masculino , Pruebas Neuropsicológicas , Reconocimiento Visual de Modelos/fisiología , Desempeño Psicomotor/fisiologíaRESUMEN
Across a series of four experiments with 3- to 4-year-olds we demonstrate how cognitive mechanisms supporting noun learning extend to the mapping of actions to objects. In Experiment 1 (n = 61) the demonstration of a novel action led children to select a novel, rather than a familiar object. In Experiment 2 (n = 78) children exhibited long-term retention of novel action-object mappings and extended these actions to other category members. In Experiment 3 (n = 60) we showed that children formed an accurate sensorimotor record of the novel action. In Experiment 4 (n = 54) we demonstrate limits on the types of actions mapped to novel objects. Overall these data suggest that certain aspects of noun mapping share common processing with action mapping and support a domain-general account of word learning.