Peer-reviewed article
Short-term familiarity shapes social preference but not word learning in preschoolers
Jina Ahn, Erica A. Cartmill, Catherine M. Sandhofer ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5Two experiments tested whether a short period of familiarity with an adult helps young children learn and generalise new words. In Study 1, children aged 22–37 months were taught and tested by an experimenter they had played with for 10 minutes or by an unfamiliar one. In Study 2, children aged 49–69 months were taught and tested by both a familiar and an unfamiliar experimenter, and a resource-allocation task measured which one they preferred. Older children preferred the familiar experimenter, but their word-generalisation performance did not differ between experimenters. The authors conclude that brief familiarity shapes social preference without a measurable word-learning advantage on this task.
Key points
- Study 1 (22–37 months): children performed similarly with familiar and unfamiliar experimenters.
- Study 1: a Bayes-factor analysis gave moderate evidence for no difference between conditions.
- Study 2 (49–69 months): children showed a social preference for the familiar experimenter.
- Study 2: generalisation performance did not differ significantly between experimenters, and the Bayesian evidence was inconclusive though it favoured no difference.
- Brief familiarity affected expressed social preference but not performance on a structured word-generalisation task with equivalent linguistic input.
Limitations
Only the abstract was available, so sample sizes, setting and effect sizes are not reported. The findings come from a structured laboratory-style task with brief familiarity, so they may not apply to everyday learning or to longer relationships with caregivers.
Abstract
Children learn language in social environments shaped by interactions with caregivers and other adults. Prior research suggests that even brief familiarity with a social partner can facilitate some types of learning, but it remains unclear whether short-term familiarity influences children's word learning. Across two studies, we examined whether short-term familiarity with an experimenter affected children's performance on a novel-label generalization task. In Study 1, younger children (22–37 months) were taught and tested by an experimenter with whom they had completed a 10-min interactive free-play session or a different unfamiliar experimenter. Children performed similarly in the familiar and unfamiliar conditions, and a Bayes-factor analysis provided moderate evidence favoring no difference between conditions. In Study 2, older children (49–69 months) completed blocked training-testing with both familiar and unfamiliar experimenters and a resource-allocation measure of social preference. Children showed a social preference for the familiar experimenter, but their generalization performance did not differ significantly between experimenters; the Bayesian evidence regarding a familiarity effect was inconclusive, although it favored no difference. Together, these findings suggest that brief familiarity can shape children's expressed social preference without producing a corresponding measurable advantage on a structured word-generalization task with equivalent linguistic input.