TY - JOUR
T1 - Beyond early linguistic competence
T2 - Development of children's ability to interpret adjectives flexibly
AU - Gao, Helena Hong
AU - Zelazo, Philip David
AU - Sharpe, Dean
AU - Mashari, Azad
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2014/10/1
Y1 - 2014/10/1
N2 - We investigated the circumstances in which 3- to 5-year-old children can and cannot interpret adjectives flexibly. In Experiment 1, children were required to interpret big and little both in reference to a basic level kind (e.g., "This is a big marble") and in reference to a superordinate kind (e.g., "This is a little toy"). Experiment 2 examined 3-year-olds' flexible interpretation of big and little with respect to a medium-sized stimulus that was alternately compared with a smaller stimulus and a larger stimulus (e.g., "Which one of these two circles is the big one?"). Even the youngest children switched between interpretations when the switch was accompanied by a change in the stimulus display. When the stimulus display remained constant, however, younger children typically perseverated on a single interpretation. Results replicate evidence of the roots of flexible adjective interpretation but also show protracted development of the ability to coordinate two incompatible interpretations of a single situation.
AB - We investigated the circumstances in which 3- to 5-year-old children can and cannot interpret adjectives flexibly. In Experiment 1, children were required to interpret big and little both in reference to a basic level kind (e.g., "This is a big marble") and in reference to a superordinate kind (e.g., "This is a little toy"). Experiment 2 examined 3-year-olds' flexible interpretation of big and little with respect to a medium-sized stimulus that was alternately compared with a smaller stimulus and a larger stimulus (e.g., "Which one of these two circles is the big one?"). Even the youngest children switched between interpretations when the switch was accompanied by a change in the stimulus display. When the stimulus display remained constant, however, younger children typically perseverated on a single interpretation. Results replicate evidence of the roots of flexible adjective interpretation but also show protracted development of the ability to coordinate two incompatible interpretations of a single situation.
KW - Cognitive flexibility
KW - Interference
KW - Linguistic flexibility
KW - Metalinguistic understanding
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84910098348&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cogdev.2014.08.003
DO - 10.1016/j.cogdev.2014.08.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84910098348
SN - 0885-2014
VL - 32
SP - 86
EP - 102
JO - Cognitive Development
JF - Cognitive Development
ER -