WHAT WORD LEARNERS DO WHEN INPUT CONTRADICTS THE MUTUAL EXCLUSIVITY ASSUMPTION

In 4 studies, 3- to 5-year-olds beard 2 novel English labels each appl ied to the same novel object by a different adult. In all 4 studies, a bout half of the children accepted both labels, suggesting that hearin g 2 labels applied to an object offers strong enough evidence for some to override mutual exclusivity. Nonetheless, about half of the childr en honored mutual exclusivity and hence accepted only 1 label; they al so seemed to keep both labels in mind for at least a few minutes and s ettled on whichever label they re-encountered first. This strategy all ows children to make an informed choice between 2 apparently equally g ood labels, without straining their limited memory capacities.