Recent studies report a striking decline in children’s ability to
notice same-different relations around age 3 (Walker et al.,
2015). We propose that such a decline results from an object
focus related to children’s avid noun-learning. To test this, we
examine children’s performance on a classic relational task –
the relational match-to-sample task (RMTS). Prior work has
shown that 4-year-olds can pass this task (Christie & Gentner,
2014). However, if nominal language induces an object focus,
their performance should be disrupted by a noun-labeling
pretask. In two experiments, 4-year-olds either labeled objects
or actions in a naming pretask. Then they completed the
RMTS task. Consistent with the noun-focus explanation, the
object-naming group failed the RMTS task, whereas the
action-naming group and a control group both succeeded.
This suggests that nominal language can lead to an object
focus, and that this could explain the temporary decline in
children’s relational processing
