One is Not Enough: Multiple Exemplars Facilitate Infants' Generalizations of Novel Properties
Date
2015-01
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Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Abstract
Across three experiments, we examined 9- and 11-month-olds’ mappings of novel sound properties to novel animal categories. Infants were familiarized with novel animal–novel sound pairings (e.g., Animal A [red]–Sound 1) and then tested on: (1) their acquisition of the original pairing and (2) their gen- eralization of the sound property to a new member of a familiarized cate- gory (e.g., Animal A [blue]–Sound 1). When familiarized with a single exemplar of a category, 11-month-olds showed no evidence of acquiring or generalizing the animal–sound pairings. In contrast, 11-month-olds learnt the original animal–sound mappings and generalized the sound property to a novel member of that category when familiarized with multiple exemplars of a category. Finally, when familiarized with multiple exemplars, 9-month- old infants learnt the original animal–sound pairing, but did not extend the novel sound property. The results of these experiments provide evidence for developmental differences in the facilitative role of multiple exemplars in promoting the learning and generalization of information.
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Citation
Vukatana, E., Graham, S. A., Curtin, S., & Zepeda, M. S. (2015). One is Not Enough: Multiple Exemplars Facilitate Infants Generalizations of Novel Properties. Infancy, 20(5), 548–575. doi: 10.1111/infa.12092