Mapping Novel Nouns and Verbs Onto Dynamic Action Events: Are Verb Meanings Easier to Learn Than Noun Meanings for Japanese Children?

• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00849_a.x
• Publication Date: 2006-12-13T00:55:01Z
• Authors: Mutsumi Imai; Etsuko Haryu; Hiroyuki Okada
• Keywords: Male; 4. Education; 05 social sciences; Videotape Recording; Vocabulary; Semantics; Japan; Child, Preschool; Humans; Learning; Female; 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences; Language

The present research examined how 3‐ and 5‐year‐old Japanese children map novel nouns verbs onto dynamic action events generalize them to new instances. Studies 1 3 demonstrated that although both 5‐year‐olds were able objects, only could solely on the basis of sameness action. Study 4 showed difficulty young experience in learning lies mainly mapping appropriate element a verb rather than encoding remembering an itself. results this are related long‐debated issue whether noun is privileged over learning.