Where’s the Advantage? Mutual Exclusivity Promotes Children’s Initial Mapping, but Not Long-Term Memory, for Words Compared to Other Strategies

Children frequently apply a novel label to a novel object, a behavior known as the mutual exclusivity bias (MEB). This study examined how MEB affects children’s retention for word mappings. In Experiment 1, preschoolers (N = 39; Mage = 46.62 months) and adults (N = 24; Mage = 21.63 years) completed...

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Main Authors:	Catherine A. Bredemann, Haley A. Vlach
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-09-01
Series:	Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:	word learning mutual exclusivity language acquisition long-term memory cognitive development
Online Access:	https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.686554/full

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spelling	doaj-57aa1b6caca94e5194a8aad8ad2499e22021-09-09T09:30:10ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-09-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.686554686554Where’s the Advantage? Mutual Exclusivity Promotes Children’s Initial Mapping, but Not Long-Term Memory, for Words Compared to Other StrategiesCatherine A. BredemannHaley A. VlachChildren frequently apply a novel label to a novel object, a behavior known as the mutual exclusivity bias (MEB). This study examined how MEB affects children’s retention for word mappings. In Experiment 1, preschoolers (N = 39; Mage = 46.62 months) and adults (N = 24; Mage = 21.63 years) completed an immediate word mapping task and a delayed retention test. Both samples used MEB during referent selection, but neither group displayed higher retention for words mapped via MEB than words mapped via other referent selection strategies at test. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 with preschoolers (N = 85; Mage = 47.78 months) and provided evidence against the possibility that interference from multiple words contributed to children’s faster forgetting of word mappings when using MEB. Experiment 3 presented children (N = 30; Mage = 51.13 months) with an abbreviated version of the task, providing evidence against the alternative hypothesis that cognitive load during learning caused the forgetting observed in Experiments 1 and 2. Taken together, these experiments suggest that MEB supports initial word mapping but may not provide an advantage for long-term retention.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.686554/fullword learningmutual exclusivitylanguage acquisitionlong-term memorycognitive development
collection	DOAJ
language	English
format	Article
sources	DOAJ
author	Catherine A. Bredemann Haley A. Vlach
spellingShingle	Catherine A. Bredemann Haley A. Vlach Where’s the Advantage? Mutual Exclusivity Promotes Children’s Initial Mapping, but Not Long-Term Memory, for Words Compared to Other Strategies Frontiers in Psychology word learning mutual exclusivity language acquisition long-term memory cognitive development
author_facet	Catherine A. Bredemann Haley A. Vlach
author_sort	Catherine A. Bredemann
title	Where’s the Advantage? Mutual Exclusivity Promotes Children’s Initial Mapping, but Not Long-Term Memory, for Words Compared to Other Strategies
title_short	Where’s the Advantage? Mutual Exclusivity Promotes Children’s Initial Mapping, but Not Long-Term Memory, for Words Compared to Other Strategies
title_full	Where’s the Advantage? Mutual Exclusivity Promotes Children’s Initial Mapping, but Not Long-Term Memory, for Words Compared to Other Strategies
title_fullStr	Where’s the Advantage? Mutual Exclusivity Promotes Children’s Initial Mapping, but Not Long-Term Memory, for Words Compared to Other Strategies
title_full_unstemmed	Where’s the Advantage? Mutual Exclusivity Promotes Children’s Initial Mapping, but Not Long-Term Memory, for Words Compared to Other Strategies
title_sort	where’s the advantage? mutual exclusivity promotes children’s initial mapping, but not long-term memory, for words compared to other strategies
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
series	Frontiers in Psychology
issn	1664-1078
publishDate	2021-09-01
description	Children frequently apply a novel label to a novel object, a behavior known as the mutual exclusivity bias (MEB). This study examined how MEB affects children’s retention for word mappings. In Experiment 1, preschoolers (N = 39; Mage = 46.62 months) and adults (N = 24; Mage = 21.63 years) completed an immediate word mapping task and a delayed retention test. Both samples used MEB during referent selection, but neither group displayed higher retention for words mapped via MEB than words mapped via other referent selection strategies at test. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 with preschoolers (N = 85; Mage = 47.78 months) and provided evidence against the possibility that interference from multiple words contributed to children’s faster forgetting of word mappings when using MEB. Experiment 3 presented children (N = 30; Mage = 51.13 months) with an abbreviated version of the task, providing evidence against the alternative hypothesis that cognitive load during learning caused the forgetting observed in Experiments 1 and 2. Taken together, these experiments suggest that MEB supports initial word mapping but may not provide an advantage for long-term retention.
topic	word learning mutual exclusivity language acquisition long-term memory cognitive development
url	https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.686554/full
work_keys_str_mv	AT catherineabredemann wherestheadvantagemutualexclusivitypromoteschildrensinitialmappingbutnotlongtermmemoryforwordscomparedtootherstrategies AT haleyavlach wherestheadvantagemutualexclusivitypromoteschildrensinitialmappingbutnotlongtermmemoryforwordscomparedtootherstrategies
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Where’s the Advantage? Mutual Exclusivity Promotes Children’s Initial Mapping, but Not Long-Term Memory, for Words Compared to Other Strategies

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