Department of Linguistics, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, United States.
Cognition. 2012 Apr;123(1):162-73. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2011.12.013. Epub 2012 Jan 14.
We tested the hypothesis that, when children learn to correctly count sets, they make a semantic induction about the meanings of their number words. We tested the logical understanding of number words in 84 children that were classified as "cardinal-principle knowers" by the criteria set forth by Wynn (1992). Results show that these children often do not know (1) which of two numbers in their count list denotes a greater quantity, and (2) that the difference between successive numbers in their count list is 1. Among counters, these abilities are predicted by the highest number to which they can count and their ability to estimate set sizes. Also, children's knowledge of the principles appears to be initially item-specific rather than general to all number words, and is most robust for very small numbers (e.g., 5) compared to larger numbers (e.g., 25), even among children who can count much higher (e.g., above 30). In light of these findings, we conclude that there is little evidence to support the hypothesis that becoming a cardinal-principle knower involves a semantic induction over all items in a child's count list.
我们检验了这样一个假设，即当儿童学会正确地数集合时，他们会对数字词的含义进行语义归纳。我们测试了 84 名儿童对数字词的逻辑理解能力，这些儿童按照 Wynn（1992）提出的标准被归类为“基数原则知识者”。结果表明，这些儿童经常不知道（1）在他们的计数列表中的两个数字中，哪一个表示更大的数量，以及（2）他们的计数列表中连续数字之间的差值为 1。在计数器中，这些能力可以由他们可以数到的最高数字和他们估计集合大小的能力来预测。此外，儿童对这些原则的知识似乎最初是针对特定项目的，而不是针对所有数字词的一般知识，并且对于非常小的数字（例如 5）比对于较大的数字（例如 25）更稳健，即使对于可以数到更高数字（例如 30 以上）的儿童也是如此。鉴于这些发现，我们得出结论，几乎没有证据支持这样的假设，即成为基数原则知识者涉及对儿童计数列表中的所有项目进行语义归纳。
