WORD LEARNING IN CATEGORIZATION AND INDIVIDUATION

本研究的目的是探讨语言学习与对物体进行分类和个性化的能力之间的联系。对于成年人来说，对象种类的概念表征被词汇化为可数名词。这些表示为个性化和分类提供了标准。一些人提出，儿童在词汇习得过程中受到语言限制的帮助，这些限制限制了他们在听到新标签时考虑的可能含义。特别是，有人认为，当孩子们听到一个标签被应用到一个物体上时，他们会认为这个标签指的是这个物体和其他同类物体。或者，标签可以通过简单地增加婴儿对所有感知对象特征的注意来促进分类和个性化，并且随着儿童获得更广泛的语言经验，他们慢慢地学习计数名词和对象类型之间的特定关系。第一个系列的实验是检验标签是否有助于婴儿对物体进行分类的能力，因为婴儿对单词的含义理解很少或根本不理解。第二组实验采用了一种新开发的方法来研究标签在婴儿个性化物体能力中的作用，并追踪他们的能力随时间的变化。此外，这两个系列都解决了标签是否与词汇习得早期的对象类型概念特别相关的问题，或者它是否介导了对一系列感知特性的注意。这些实验将揭示语言和概念知识习得过程的早期发展。

The goal of the proposed research is to investigate the link between language learning, on the one hand, and the ability to categorize and individuate objects on the other. For adults, conceptual representations of object kinds are lexicalized as count nouns. These representations provide criteria for individuation and for categorization. Some have proposed that children are aided in the process of lexical acquisition by linguistic constraints that limit the possible meanings they consider when they hear a novel label. In particular, it has been suggested that when children hear a label applied to an object, they assume it refers to that object and others of the same kind. Alternatively, labels may facilitate categorization and individuation by simply increase infants' attention to all perceptual object features, and children learn specific relations between count nouns and objects kinds slowly as they acquire more extensive experience with language. The first series of proposed experiments examines whether labeling facilitates infants' ability to categorize objects at a time when children have little or no understanding of word meanings. The second series of experiments employs a newly developed method to investigate the role of labeling in infants' ability to individuate objects and trace their ability over time. Further, both series address the issue of whether labeling is specifically linked to object kind concepts early in lexical acquisition or whether it mediates attention to a range of perceptual properties. These experiments will shed light on the early development of the processes that underlie the acquisition both of language and conceptual knowledge.