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. 2007 Dec;105(3):669-80.
doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2006.11.004. Epub 2006 Dec 26.

Dog is a dog is a dog: infant rule learning is not specific to language

Jenny R Saffran  1 , Seth D Pollak, Rebecca L Seibel, Anna Shkolnik
Affiliations

Dog is a dog is a dog: infant rule learning is not specific to language

Jenny R Saffran et al. Cognition. 2007 Dec.

Abstract

Human infants possess powerful learning mechanisms used for the acquisition of language. To what extent are these mechanisms domain specific? One well-known infant language learning mechanism is the ability to detect and generalize rule-like similarity patterns, such as ABA or ABB [Marcus, G. F., Vijayan, S., Rao, S. B., & Vishton, P. M. (1999). Rule learning by seven-month-old infants. Science, 283, 77-80.]. The results of three experiments demonstrate that 7-month-old infants can detect and generalize these same patterns when the elements consist of pictures of animals (dogs and cats). These findings indicate that rule learning of this type is not specific to language acquisition.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Examples of training materials from the ABA and ABB conditions.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The four test items. Each triad of dogs represents a single test event.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Looking times (SE) to familiar and novel test sequences in Experiment 1 (ABA vs. ABB), Experiment 2 (AAB vs. ABB), and Experiment 3 (ABA vs. ABB).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Experiment 3 materials.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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