Journal
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 46, Issue 4, Pages 815-826Publisher
AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
DOI: 10.1037/a0019664
Keywords
toddlers; selective learning; word learning; selective trust; testimony
Categories
Funding
- NICHD NIH HHS [5R03HD47432-2, R03 HD047432] Funding Source: Medline
- Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sci
- Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie [1024298] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Three studies examined 24-month-olds' sensitivity to the prior accuracy of the source of information and the way in which young children modify their word learning from inaccurate sources. In Experiments 1A, 2, and 3, toddlers interacted with an accurate or inaccurate speaker who trained and tested children's comprehension of a new word object link. In Experiment 1, children performed less systematically in response to an inaccurate than to an accurate source. In Experiments 2 and 3, after toddlers' comprehension of the new word object links was tested by the original source, a second speaker requested the target objects. In Experiment 2, children responded randomly in response to the second speaker's requests when novel words were previously presented by an inaccurate source. In Experiment 3, toddlers responded randomly in response to both speakers in the inaccurate condition when their memory for words was taxed by a brief delay period. Taken together, these findings suggest that toddlers attend to accuracy information, that they treat inaccuracy as a feature of a particular individual, and that the word object representations formed as a result may be fragile and short lived. Findings are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms by which children adjust their word learning from problematic speakers.
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