Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: Previous research shows that people can acquire an impressive number of word-referent pairs after viewing a series of ambiguous trials by accumulating co-occurrence statistics (e.g., Yu & Smith, 2006). The present study extends the cross-situational word learning paradigm, which has previously dealt only with noun acquisition, and shows that humans can concurrently acquire nouns and adjectives (i.e., a natural category with a distinctive, unifying feature). Furthermore, participants are able to learn ad hoc categories of referents consistently cooccurring with a label, while simultaneously learning instance labels. Thus, humans demonstrate an impressive ability to simultaneously apprehend regularities at multiple levels in their environment.
Authors: Tarun Gangwani, George Kachergis, Chen Yu
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2188678936