CHILDREN INITIAL ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE MEANING OF NOVEL MOTION VERBS - BIASED AND CONSERVATIVE

This study examined the role that changes in continuity, direction, in strument, and causative agent play in children's and adults' initial a ssumptions about the meaning of novel motion verbs and events. Three-y ear-olds, 7-year-olds, and adults were shown novel videotaped motions in a verb label or a no verb label condition. Subjects were then asked whether these exemplars generalized to events in which only one of th e previously mentioned components had been changed. Overall, subjects made strikingly similar initial assumptions: Causative agent changes r endered all subjects least likely to generalize the novel verbs and ev ents, and generalizations were virtually unaffected by whether the eve nts were labeled or unlabeled by a novel verb. However, children gener alized more conservatively than adults to all change types in general, and to instrument changes in particular. In this article similarities in generalizations are interpreted in terms of direct mapping and a c ausative agent bias. Finally, we discuss children's comparative conser vatism and alternative depictions of constraints on verb learning.