Merriman W E, Scott P D, Marazita J
Department of Psychology, Kent State University, OH 44242.
J Child Lang. 1993 Feb;20(1):101-18. doi: 10.1017/s0305000900009144.
The relative importance of appearance and potential function in children's object naming was examined. Potential function is an object capability that may not be currently realized (e.g. an empty mug has the potential to hold coffee). In Study 1, sixteen children from each of three age groups (3;8, 4;8, and 6;1) were taught novel names for unfamiliar objects; they then had to decide whether these applied to items that resembled the training objects in either appearance or potential function. The youngsters were also shown deceptive objects (e.g., an eraser that looked like a pencil) and had to choose between familiar appearance and function names for them (e.g., pencil or eraser). The frequency of function-based responding in both tasks increased with age. In Study 2, the name training procedure was revised so that equal emphasis was given to both apparent and functional features. The main results of the first study were replicated. Neither study obtained evidence of a strong relation between the appearance-function shift and increased understanding of the appearance-reality distinction.
研究了外观和潜在功能在儿童物体命名中的相对重要性。潜在功能是一种物体能力，可能目前尚未实现（例如，一个空杯子有装咖啡的潜力）。在研究1中，来自三个年龄组（3岁8个月、4岁8个月和6岁1个月）的每组16名儿童被教授不熟悉物体的新名称；然后他们必须决定这些名称是否适用于在外观或潜在功能上与训练物体相似的物品。还向这些儿童展示了具有欺骗性的物体（例如，看起来像铅笔的橡皮擦），并让他们在熟悉的外观名称和功能名称之间进行选择（例如，铅笔或橡皮擦）。在这两项任务中，基于功能的反应频率都随着年龄的增长而增加。在研究2中，对名称训练程序进行了修订，以便对外观特征和功能特征给予同等重视。第一项研究的主要结果得到了重复验证。两项研究均未获得证据表明外观-功能转变与对外观-现实差异的理解增强之间存在强关联。
