Concepts : Learning and Generalization : a developmental approach
- Authors
- Publication Date
- Dec 12, 2023
- Source
- Hal-Diderot
- Keywords
- Language
- English
- License
- Unknown
- External links
Abstract
A remarkable ability, that one may take for granted, is the ability to name object that you encounter for the first time when these are members of categories you know. This is possible thanks to our conceptual system and our ability to generalize names between same category members. It is priceless for organizing the world around us and communicating. Research has shown that learning words in a comparison setting – with multiple items associated to the novel word rather than one – favors correct generalization. In the following work, first we review the work on novel word generalization and their suggestions about the mechanisms that may underlie novel word generalization. Second, we investigate how one generalizes novel words? We question which strategies are used to generalize novel words, what are their temporal dynamics, which processes may underlie them. We address this question in two different and complementary ways. We investigate novel noun generalization strategies with eye tracking data to reveal the strategies’ profile and their developmental course. Then we investigate novel noun generalization performances in free-choice rather than forced choice-design to change the task’s constraints and consider a wider scope of children’s considered generalizations. These studies reveal for the first-time clear novel noun generalization strategy patterns. The patterns are stable across development: it is the child’s ability to apply the strategy efficiently that develops. The studies also suggest that novel noun generalization may be considered with two corposants: children’s sensitivity to same category items and their willingness to follow a given categorization rule.
