Evidence for a form of mutual exclusivity during label acquisition by greyparrots (Psittacus erithacus)?

The authors present context-dependent evidence for a form of mutual exclusi vity during label learning by Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus). For human children, mutual exclusivity refers to their assumption during early word learning that an object has one and only one label. Along with the whole-ob ject assumption (that a label likely refers to an entire object rather than some partial aspect), mutual exclusivity is thought to guide children in i nitial label acquisition. It may also help children overcome the whole-obje ct assumption by helping them interpret a novel word as something other tha n an object label, but for young children, any second label for an object c an initially be more difficult to acquire than the first. The authors show that Grey parrots quickly learn object labels for items, then have consider able difficulty learning to use color labels with respect to a previously l abeled item unless specifically taught to use a color and object label as a pair.