Becoming word meaning experts: Infants’ processing of familiar words in the context of typical and atypical exemplars
Year: 2022
Type: preprint
Abstract: How do infants become word meaning experts? This registered report investigated the structure of infants’ early lexical representations by manipulating the typicality of exemplars from familiar animal categories. 14- to 18-month-old infants (N=84; 51 female; M=15.7 months; race/ethnicity: 64% White, 8% Asian, 2% Hispanic, 1% Black, 23% multiple categories) were tested on their ability to recognize typical and atypical category exemplars after hearing familiar basic-level category labels. Infants robustly recognized both typical (d=0.79, 95% CI [0.54, 1.03]) and atypical (d=0.70, 95% CI [0.46, 0.94]) exemplars, with no significant difference between typicality conditions (d=0.14, 95% CI [-0.08, 0.35]). These results support a broad-to-narrow account of infants’ early word meanings. Implications for the role of experience in the development of lexical knowledge are discussed.
Authors: Haley Weaver, Martin Zettersten, Jenny Saffran
Institutions: University of Wisconsin–Madison, Princeton University
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4206596644