What is the shape bias in early noun learning?

What is the shape bias in early noun learning?

• A. Bias to generalize object names by color rather than shape.
• B. Bias to generalize object names by shape rather than color or texture; strongest in early noun learning.
• C. Bias to generalize nouns by texture rather than shape.
• D. Bias to generalize verbs by motion.

Answer: (B)

Shape bias refers to the tendency of young children learning nouns to generalize a newly heard word to other objects that share the same shape, rather than the same color or texture. This makes shape a reliable cue for category membership across diverse instances, so a word for a kind of object tends to apply to other objects with the same form even when their colors or textures differ. It’s strongest in early noun learning because nouns label object kinds, and shape provides stable diagnostic information across examples. Color and texture can vary within a category, making them less informative for extending a novel noun. Verbs, by contrast, are learned from motion and action, not object shape, so this bias specifically applies to nouns, not verbs.

Shape bias refers to the tendency of young children learning nouns to generalize a newly heard word to other objects that share the same shape, rather than the same color or texture. This makes shape a reliable cue for category membership across diverse instances, so a word for a kind of object tends to apply to other objects with the same form even when their colors or textures differ. It’s strongest in early noun learning because nouns label object kinds, and shape provides stable diagnostic information across examples. Color and texture can vary within a category, making them less informative for extending a novel noun. Verbs, by contrast, are learned from motion and action, not object shape, so this bias specifically applies to nouns, not verbs.