Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 30, 2026
11:18
Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task
Published on: June 1, 2015
Finding one's meaning: a test of the relation between quantifiers and integers in language development
David Barner1, Katherine Chow, Shu-Ju Yang
1Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0109, USA. barner@ucsd.edu
Cognitive Psychology
|September 19, 2008
Summary
Children do not learn the word "one" by first understanding singular nouns. Instead, quantifiers generally help children grasp numeral meanings, with exactness applied only to number words from the start.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Children's acquisition of number words is hypothesized to depend on prior distinctions between singular and plural nouns.
- Cross-linguistic studies suggest a later acquisition of 'one' in languages lacking singular-plural morphology.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the hypothesis that the distinction between singular and plural nouns bootstraps the acquisition of number words in children.
- To investigate the relationship between grammatical number and the acquisition of numerals in English-speaking children.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments were conducted using English-speaking children.
- A Truth-Value Judgment task assessed children's interpretation of singular noun phrases and the numeral 'one'.
- Correlation analyses examined the relationship between numeral comprehension and the understanding of quantifiers and determiners.
Main Results:
- A significant correlation was found between numeral comprehension and the understanding of quantifiers/determiners, even after controlling for age.
- Two-year-old children failed to interpret singular noun phrases (e.g., 'a banana') exactly, despite interpreting 'one' exactly.
- Children who correctly interpreted singular nouns did not show better numeral comprehension than those who did not.
Conclusions:
- The singular-plural distinction does not appear to facilitate the acquisition of the word 'one'.
- Quantifiers play a broader role in highlighting the semantic function of numerals.
- Children differentiate numerals from other quantifiers early on, assigning exactness solely to numerals.
Related Concept Videos
01:29Measures of Intelligence
Psychologists measure intelligence by using standardized tests that produce a score known as the intelligence quotient or IQ. To understand IQ tests, it's important to recognize the key principles behind their construction: validity, reliability, and standardization.
Validity refers to how well a test measures what it claims to measure. An intelligence test should accurately assess intelligence rather than another characteristic, like anxiety. Criterion validity is one way to evaluate this; it...
Validity refers to how well a test measures what it claims to measure. An intelligence test should accurately assess intelligence rather than another characteristic, like anxiety. Criterion validity is one way to evaluate this; it...
01:28Inequalities
Inequalities express mathematical relationships where two values are not equal and are compared using symbols such as <, >, ≤, or ≥. These expressions define a range of possible solutions rather than a single value. Interval notation provides a concise way to express these solution sets, especially when the variable spans a continuous range. An open interval, written as (a, b), excludes the endpoints, while a closed interval [a, b] includes them. There are also half-open intervals, such...
01:29Mathematical Induction
Mathematical induction is a structured method of proof used to confirm the truth of statements involving natural numbers. Consider the sum of the first n natural numbers:This formula describes a pattern that appears to hold true as more terms are added. To verify that it is valid for all natural numbers, mathematical induction proceeds in two essential steps. The first is the base case, where the formula is tested for the initial value, typically n = 1. Substituting into both sides confirms the...
01:29Indeterminate Products
Indeterminate forms also arise in the evaluation of limits involving products, particularly when one factor approaches zero while the other tends to positive or negative infinity. This situation, commonly described as a zero-times-infinity form, does not have an immediately interpretable outcome. Depending on how the factors behave relative to one another, the limit of such a product may be zero, infinite, or a finite nonzero value.Product Limits and Algebraic RewritingTo analyze limits of this...
01:28Comparison Tests
An infinite series composed of positive terms may either approach a finite value or increase without bound. Determining which outcome occurs is a central task in calculus, and comparison tests provide structured methods for making this determination. Rather than evaluating a series directly, these tests relate it to another series whose behavior is already known, allowing conclusions to be drawn through logical comparison.The direct comparison test applies to series with positive terms. If each...
01:23Absolute Value Inequalities
The absolute value is a mathematical tool that represents the distance of a number from zero on the number line, regardless of its sign. In the context of inequalities, absolute value expressions help define a range of permissible values or boundaries for a variable. These inequalities are commonly used in scientific modeling and data interpretation, where variability within or beyond a certain threshold must be captured precisely.An absolute value inequality of the form ∣x∣ ≤ a, where a ≥ 0,...