Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

A common result in novel word generalization is that comparison settings (i.e., several stimuli introduced simultaneously) favor taxonomically-based generalization. Most generalization studies on comparison have been done with forced-choice designs. We investigated which type of items five-year-old children would choose as referents in a free-choice novel noun generalization task. Options were items from the same basic level category, from a near superordinate category, a distant superordinate category, and also perceptual lures, thematic lures, and unrelated lures. We manipulated the generalization items availability at test (i.e., generalization stimuli introduced sequentially or simultaneously). Results show that items from the same basic level category were more chosen than other taxonomically related items. Interestingly, perceptual lures and near superordinate items did not differ, suggesting that children did not arbitrate between perception and taxonomy. Results are discussed in terms of the respective role of taxonomic relations and perception but also mode of presentation (availability).