This study investigates whether, in addition to learning the first-order regularities between individual words and objects under a cross-situational learning context, adult learners are sensitive to the second-order correlations between the phonological features of labels and the visuo-perceptual features of objects and whether they can use such features as a cue in categorizing novel objects. Two experiments were designed and conducted to examine whether native speakers of English and Mandarin Chinese performed differently when they encountered different types of training data that either reflected or were inconsistent with the linguistic features in their native language. We found that when the training stimuli reflected the linguistic structures of their native language, English speakers were able to use the phonological features of labels as a cue in object categorization just as their Mandarinspeaking counterparts did. Moreover, our results also suggest bi-directional real-time interactions between learning the firstorder word-referent mappings and the higher-order mappings between phonological features in labels and perceptual features in visual objects.

Previous research indicates that adult learners are able to use co-occurrence information to learn word-to-object mappings and form object categories simultaneously. The current eyetracking study investigated the dynamics of attention allocation during concurrent statistical learning of words and categories. The results showed that the participants ’ learning performance was associated with the numbers of short and mid-length fixations generated during training. Moreover, the learners ’ patterns of attention allocation indicated online interaction and bi-directional bootstrapping between word and

We are able to use many types of information available in the environment when categorizing or making inferences. This research explores how two types of information—perceptual and conceptual—may be used to different extents in different tasks. The method takes advantage of the distinction between animate and artifact categories. In two experiments, adult participants were given perceptual and conceptual information about the animacy of novel categories, and then were tested on three tasks. Participants categorized items by classifying with a given novel name, with a given fact, or by inferring untrained facts about the items. Results showed that participants used different sources of information depending on the task. These results are discussed in terms of how they could add to an account of the mechanisms of categorization.