Abstract
The role of words and gestures in guiding infants' inductive inferences about nonobvious properties was examined. One hundred seventy-two 14-month-olds and 22-month-olds were presented with novel target objects followed by test objects that varied in similarity to the target. Objects were introduced with a novel word or a novel gesture or with no label. When target and test objects were highly similar in shape, both 14- and 22-month-olds inferred that these objects shared a nonobvious property, regardless of whether the objects were labeled with a word or a gesture or with no label. When objects were labeled with the same word, both 14- and 22-month-olds generalized the nonobvious properties to objects that shared minimal perceptual similarity. Finally, when objects were labeled with the same gesture, 14-month-olds, but not 22-month-olds, generalized the nonobvious properties to objects that shared minimal perceptual similarity. These results indicate that 14-month-olds possess a more generalized symbolic system as they will rely on both words and gestures to guide their inferences. By 22-months of age, infants treat words as a privileged referential form when making inductive inferences.
Highlights
The role of words and gestures in guiding infants’ inductive inferences about nonobvious properties was examined
When target and test objects were highly similar in shape, both 14- and 22-month-olds inferred that these objects shared a nonobvious property, regardless of whether the objects were labeled with a word or a gesture or with no label
When objects were labeled with the same gesture, 14-month-olds, but not 22-month-olds, generalized the nonobvious properties to objects that shared minimal perceptual similarity
Summary
Data from ninety-seven 14- to 15.5-month old infants and seventy-five 21- to 22-month old infants were included in the final sample. An additional 45 infants were tested but were excluded from the final sample for the following reasons: excessive fussiness (n ϭ 22), parental interference (n ϭ 7), experimenter error (n ϭ 9), and statistical outliers (n ϭ 7; see Coding and Data Reduction section). The high similarity objects were designed to be similar in shape and texture to the target object but differed from that object in color and size. The dissimilar objects differed from the target object in shape, texture, color, and size and included a hose splitter (rattling set), a plastic file (squeaking set), and a small strainer (ringing set). Adults rated the high and low similarity test objects in each object set as significantly different in similarity from one another (all ps Ͻ .05), in the direction intended.
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