{"title":"为什么孩子们认为词语是相互排斥的?","authors":"Gabor Brody, Roman Feiman, Athulya Aravind","doi":"10.1177/09567976241287732","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>How do children learn what a word means when its uses are consistent with many possible meanings? One influential idea is that children rely on an inductive bias that ensures that novel words get assigned distinct meanings from known words-<i>mutual exclusivity</i>. Here, we explore the possibility that mutual-exclusivity phenomena do not reflect a bias but rather information encoded in the message. Learners might effectively be told when (and when not) to assume that word meanings are mutually exclusive. In three experiments (<i>N</i> = 106 from across the United States; ages 2 years, 0 months-2 years, 11 months), we show that 2-year-olds only assumed that novel words have distinct meanings if the words were spoken with <i>focus</i>, an information-structural marker of contrast. Without focus, we found no mutual exclusivity; novel words were understood to label familiar objects. These results provide a novel account of mutual exclusivity and demonstrate an early emerging understanding of focus and information structure.</p>","PeriodicalId":20745,"journal":{"name":"Psychological Science","volume":" ","pages":"1315-1324"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Why Do Children Think Words Are Mutually Exclusive?\",\"authors\":\"Gabor Brody, Roman Feiman, Athulya Aravind\",\"doi\":\"10.1177/09567976241287732\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<p><p>How do children learn what a word means when its uses are consistent with many possible meanings? One influential idea is that children rely on an inductive bias that ensures that novel words get assigned distinct meanings from known words-<i>mutual exclusivity</i>. Here, we explore the possibility that mutual-exclusivity phenomena do not reflect a bias but rather information encoded in the message. Learners might effectively be told when (and when not) to assume that word meanings are mutually exclusive. In three experiments (<i>N</i> = 106 from across the United States; ages 2 years, 0 months-2 years, 11 months), we show that 2-year-olds only assumed that novel words have distinct meanings if the words were spoken with <i>focus</i>, an information-structural marker of contrast. Without focus, we found no mutual exclusivity; novel words were understood to label familiar objects. These results provide a novel account of mutual exclusivity and demonstrate an early emerging understanding of focus and information structure.</p>\",\"PeriodicalId\":20745,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Psychological Science\",\"volume\":\" \",\"pages\":\"1315-1324\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":4.8000,\"publicationDate\":\"2024-12-01\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Psychological Science\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"102\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976241287732\",\"RegionNum\":1,\"RegionCategory\":\"心理学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"2024/11/21 0:00:00\",\"PubModel\":\"Epub\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Psychological Science","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976241287732","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/11/21 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Why Do Children Think Words Are Mutually Exclusive?
How do children learn what a word means when its uses are consistent with many possible meanings? One influential idea is that children rely on an inductive bias that ensures that novel words get assigned distinct meanings from known words-mutual exclusivity. Here, we explore the possibility that mutual-exclusivity phenomena do not reflect a bias but rather information encoded in the message. Learners might effectively be told when (and when not) to assume that word meanings are mutually exclusive. In three experiments (N = 106 from across the United States; ages 2 years, 0 months-2 years, 11 months), we show that 2-year-olds only assumed that novel words have distinct meanings if the words were spoken with focus, an information-structural marker of contrast. Without focus, we found no mutual exclusivity; novel words were understood to label familiar objects. These results provide a novel account of mutual exclusivity and demonstrate an early emerging understanding of focus and information structure.
期刊介绍:
Psychological Science, the flagship journal of The Association for Psychological Science (previously the American Psychological Society), is a leading publication in the field with a citation ranking/impact factor among the top ten worldwide. It publishes authoritative articles covering various domains of psychological science, including brain and behavior, clinical science, cognition, learning and memory, social psychology, and developmental psychology. In addition to full-length articles, the journal features summaries of new research developments and discussions on psychological issues in government and public affairs. "Psychological Science" is published twelve times annually.