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Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications

Table 3 Mean (SD) difficulty ratings for each word learning principle by participants with aligned versus different intuitions

From: Does the public know what researchers know? Perceived task difficulty impacts adults’ intuitions about children’s early word learning

Variable

Aligned/different intuition on word learning principle

Aligned

Different

t

p

d

Mutual exclusivity

2.53 (1.00)

3.00 (0.53)

0.93

0.34

0.59

Whole object assumption

2.08 (1.08)

3.00 (1.58)

1.64

0.10

0.68

Taxonomic bias

1.42 (0.68)

2.00 (0.00)

1.19

0.24

1.21

Shape bias

2.25 (1.02)

2.68 (0.92)

1.83

0.07

0.44

Pointing

1.33 (0.65)

2.00 (–)

1.01

0.31

–

Not pointing

3.33 (0.91)

2.00 (–)

− 1.46

0.15

–

Looking to visible object

1.57 (0.61)

2.96 (0.75)

9.02

< 0.001*

2.03

Not looking to visible object

2.90 (0.80)

2.30 (0.70)

− 3.15

< 0.003*

0.80

Overheard speech

2.22 (0.81)

4.05 (0.68)

9.14

< 0.001*

2.44

Looking to non-visible object

3.04 (1.13)

3.60 (0.84)

1.52

0.13

0.56

Massed learning

2.96 (0.78)

1.82 (0.50)

− 8.26

< 0.001*

1.74

Spaced learning

1.91 (0.46)

3.34 (0.68)

11.80

< 0.001*

2.46

CSWL

2.90 (0.97)

4.24 (0.62)

7.46

< 0.001*

1.65

Varied context

1.94 (0.67)

3.22 (0.83)

7.50

< 0.001*

1.70

Same context

2.72 (0.92)

1.69 (0.70)

− 5.93

< 0.001*

1.26

  1. Difficulty ratings by aligned and different intuitions for each word learning principle using a 1–5 Likert scale (1 = “Not difficult at all”, 5 = “Extremely difficult”). A series of paired samples t-tests, Bonferroni-corrected for multiple comparisons (α = 0.003), assessed differences in mean difficulty ratings between participants with aligned vs. misaligned responses, *p < 0.003. Only one participant answered incorrectly on the principle testing the importance of pointing during learning. As a result, no standard deviation is reported for this principle
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