Word-based categorization in 14 to 16 month-old infants: Evidence from a Slavic language

Abstract

We investigate early word-based categorization by testing one sample of infants at the ages of 14 and 16 months using an object manipulation task. Specifically, we investigate the facilitating effect of labeling on: a) categorization of unknown objects with a shared label and a similar shape; b) categorization of unknown objects with a shared label, but no perceptual similarity. The results indicate that an average infant can categorize novel objects with a similar shape and a shared label starting at 16 months of age. Categorization of novel objects with a shared label but no perceptual similarity is at chance level at both ages. These results confirm and extend previous research findings to a new language.

Keywords

• infants
• word-learning
• object categorization
• Serbian language