Why children learn color and size words so differently: Evidence from adults' learning of artificial terms

An adult simulation study examined why children's learning of color and siz e terms follow different developmental patterns, one in which word comprehe nsion precedes success in nonlinguistic matching tasks versus one in which matching precedes word comprehension. In 4 experiments, adults teamed artif icial labels for values on novel dimensions. Training mimicked that charact eristic for children learning either color words or size words. The results suggest that the learning trajectories arise from the different frames in which different dimensions are trained: Using a comparison (size-like) trai ning regimen helps learners pick out the relevant dimension, and using a ca tegorization (color-like) training regimen helps the learner correctly comp rehend and produce dimension terms. The results indicate that the training regimen, not the meanings of the terms or the specific dimensions, determin es the pattern of learning.