Learning words from knowledgeable versus ignorant speakers: Links between preschoolers' theory of mind and semantic development

Two studies addressed whether children consider speakers' knowledge states when establishing initial word-referent links. In Study 1, forty-eight 3- a nd 4-year-olds were taught two novel words by a speaker who expressed eithe r knowledge or ignorance about the words' referents. Children showed better word learning when the speaker was knowledgeable. In Study 1 forty-eight 3 - and 4-year-olds were taught two novel words by a speaker who expressed un certainty about their referents. Whether the uncertainty truly reflected ig norance,however, differed across conditions. In one condition, the speaker said he made the object himself and thus, he was knowledgeable. In the othe r condition, the speaker stated that the object was made by a friend and th us, expressed ignorance about it. Four-year-olds learned better in the spea ker-made than in the friend-made condition; S-year-olds, however, showed re latively poor learning in both conditions. These findings suggest that theo ry-of-mind developments impact word learning.