Sensitivity of 24-Month-Olds to the Prior Inaccuracy of the….pdfVIP

Developmental Psychology © 2010 American Psychological Association 2010, Vol. 46, No. 4, 815–826 0012-1649/10/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0019664 Sensitivity of 24-Month-Olds to the Prior Inaccuracy of the Source: Possible Mechanisms Melissa A. Koenig Amanda L. Woodward University of Minnesota, Twin Cities University of Maryland, College Park Three studies examined 24-month-olds’ sensitivity to the prior accuracy of the source of information and the way in which young children modify their word learning from inaccurate sources. In Experiments 1A, 2, and 3, toddlers interacted with an accurate or inaccurate speaker who trained and tested children’s comprehension of a new word–object link. In Experiment 1, children performed less systematically in response to an inaccurate than to an accurate source. In Experiments 2 and 3, after toddlers’ compre- hension of the new word–object links was tested by the original source, a second speaker requested the target objects. In Experiment 2, children responded randomly in response to the second speaker’s requests when novel words were previously presented by an inaccurate source. In Experiment 3, toddlers responded randomly in response to both speakers in the inaccurate condition when their memory for