Comparing Adult and Children’s Statistical Learning of Multiple Words for a Referent

Cross-situational word learning (CSWL) is a method of learning new words where an individual
is exposed to the word’s meaning in an ambiguous fashion throughout different contexts. Many
studies have been conducted using CSWL tasks on both children and adults. Most of these
studies look at single-label pairings, which is when one object is paired with one word. More
recently, research has also started to look at double-label pairings. Double-label pairings consist
of one object being paired with two words. No study to date has compared adult and children’s
performance in a double-label design. This study’s aim was to better understand how adults and
children compare in these tasks. The current study conducted two experiments to compare adult
and children’s performance in a CSWL task in either a single-label and double-label design.
Results showed that adults were successful in both conditions but performed better in the
single-label condition than the double-label condition. Children on the other hand were
unsuccessful in both conditions and did not demonstrate learning. Several reasons for these
findings are discussed. These results highlight the need for further research that directly
compares age groups in CSWL tasks and for further research into the area of multiple-label
pairings.