THE EFFECTS OF LABELING AND PERCEPTUAL TRAINING ON PERCEPTION AND DISCRIMINATION LEARNING IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Ninety‐six seven‐ and nine‐year‐olds were tested under four experimental conditions. A “distinctive label” group associated four different gender‐cued labels with four infants’ faces. An “equivalent label” group associated only two of these labels. There were also two no‐label groups: “differential perception” and “perception”. In the former, perceptual cues were provided; no cues were provided in the latter. The main measures were perception and discrimination learning tests. Nine‐year‐olds were not affected by the labels, seven‐year‐olds were, but more significantly during initial trials. A proposed explanation is that perception is affected by labels, perceptual learning and selective attention. These effects are determined developmentally. That is, as age increases the effects of verbal cues diminish and those of perceptual cues increase. The findings are related to cross‐cultural data, indicating that Israeli toddlers classify according to gender earlier than their American counterparts. This is probably because Hebrew more than English contains distinctive linguistic cues related to gender.