Complexity and Blocked Trial Presentation in a Novel Verb Generalization Task

The current study examined the role of complexity and initial variability of
exemplars during learning in verb generalization. Children and adults learned two novel
verbs in the context of two novel creatures across two sessions. After a second training
session, participants completed a generalization task during which they were required to
identify the verbs when presented with seven novel creatures of varying levels of
complexity. Performance was compared across age group and condition. Participants who
initially learned the verbs in the context of a single, simple exemplar demonstrated a
higher proportion of correct responses than participants who initially learned the verbs
with both a simple & complex exemplar. These results provide evidence that fewer
exemplars during initial training of novel verbs may increase learning in young children,
as well as some evidence that complex exemplars may increase the difficulty of learning
and generalizing verbs.