@article { , title = {Young children's referent selection is guided by novelty for both words and actions}, abstract = {Young children are biased to select novel, name-unknown objects as referents of novel labels (e.g., Markman, 1990) and similarly favour novel, action-unknown objects as referents of novel actions (Riggs, Mather, Hyde \& Simpson, 2015). What process underlies these common behaviors? In the case of word learning, children may be driven by a novelty bias favouring novel objects as referents (Horst, Samuelson, Kucker \& McMurray, 2011). Our study investigates this bias further by investigating whether novelty also affects children’s selection of novel objects when a new action is given. In a pre-exposure session, 40, three- and four-year-olds were shown eight novel objects for one minute. In subsequent referent selection trials children were shown two pre-exposed and one super-novel object and heard either a novel name or saw a novel action. The super-novel object was selected significantly more that the pre-exposed objects on both word and action trials. Our data add to the growing literature suggesting that an endogenous attentional bias to novelty plays a role in children’s referent selection and demonstrates further parallels between word and action learning.}, doi = {10.1016/j.jecp.2016.01.003}, eissn = {1096-0457}, issn = {0022-0965}, journal = {Journal of experimental child psychology}, pages = {231-237}, publicationstatus = {Published}, publisher = {Elsevier}, url = {https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/384171}, volume = {146}, keyword = {Cognition and Development, Health and Health Inequalities, Referent selection, Novelty, Action-object mapping, Word-object mapping, Domain-general cognition, Word learning}, year = {2016}, author = {Dysart, Erin L. and Mather, Emily and Riggs, Kevin J.} }