A large body of research indicates that children can map words to categories and generalize the label to new instances of the category after hearing a single instance of the category labeled. Additional research demonstrates that word learning is enhanced when children are presented with multiple instances of a category through comparison or contrast. In this study, 3-year-old children participated in a novel noun generalization task in which a label was given for either (a) a single instance of a category, (b) multiple instances of a category, or (c) contrasting a category instance with non-category members. Children were asked to extend the label to a new category at test either immediately (Study 1) or after a 10-s delay (Study 2). The results indicate that when tested immediately, children who heard a single instance labeled outperformed children who were presented with multiple instances. However, when tested after a brief delay, there was no difference among the conditions.

大量研究表明，儿童可以将单词映射到类别，并在听到标记的类别的单个实例后将标签概括为该类别的新实例。其他研究表明，当通过比较或对比向儿童展示一个类别的多个实例时，单词学习会得到增强。在这项研究中，3 岁儿童参与了一项新颖的名词泛化任务，其中为 (a) 一个类别的单个实例，(b) 一个类别的多个实例，或 (c) 对比具有非类别成员的类别实例。要求儿童在测试时立即（研究 1）或延迟 10 秒后（研究 2）将标签扩展到新类别。结果表明，当立即测试时，听到标记为单个实例的儿童的表现优于被呈现多个实例的儿童。然而，在短暂延迟后进行测试时，条件之间没有差异。