Children interact with and learn about all types of sound sources, including dogs, bells, trains, and human beings. Although it is clear that knowledge of semantic categories for everyday sights and sounds develops during childhood, there are very few studies examining how children use this knowledge to make sense of auditory scenes. We used a…

Three alternative mechanisms for age-related decline in memory search have been proposed, which result from either reduced processing speed (global slowing hypothesis), overpersistence on categories (cluster-switching hypothesis), or the inability to maintain focus on local cues related to a decline in working memory (cue-maintenance hypothesis).…

Three experiments assessed the claim that preschoolers override form class cues in the interest of honoring word- meaning assumptions when acquiring new labels. Results demonstrated that children respected the form class cues when these cues and word-meaning assumptions suggested conflicting interpretations. It was suggested that past findings…

Six experiments examined how children approach the task of learning novel count nouns. Findings indicated that three- and four-year olds function with an antithematic bias and that children do not reliably extend novel count nouns to subordinate exemplars when perceptual similarity is controlled until about age 7. (MDM)

Two studies tested three- and five-year-old children's ability to use multiple-referent and inclusion strategies to interpret new words. In both studies, children interpreted labels for single objects at the basic level. The multiple-referent and inclusion strategies led children to interpret novel words at the superordinate level. (RH)