What makes a vibble a vibble? A developmental study of category generalization.

Young children appear to know when a novel label for a novel object is a common noun. The present study was concerned with the properties of a named object that children assume to be true of other members of the category that is specified by such a noun. Preschoolers, second graders, and college students were shown drawings of objects and given nonsense labels for those objects. They then viewed other objects that varied from the labeled ones along 4 particular attributes and were asked to decide if those other objects should also receive the same label. Preschoolers focused mostly on single attributes in making category decisions, and their choices of attributes were evenly distributed among the 4 types. Older individuals primarily exhibited multiple attribute rules. The results are discussed in terms of developmental differences in the modes of processing that are used and in the types of knowledge that are brought to bear on the word learning situation.