Distinctive verbal cues support the learning of tool-use actions in 18- and 24-month-olds

To support imitative learning, adult models often use language to accompany an action demonstration. In light of the mixed evidence on the effect of verbal cues on imitative learning, we investigated the influence of the semantic content of verbal information on 18- and 24-month-olds’ imitative learning. The toddlers (n = 132) observed two tool-use actions on a box, accompanied by verbal input that either did not differentiate between the tools and actions (unspecific condition), or contained pseudo-words for the tools plus either meaningful verbs (meaningful-verb condition, Experiment 1) or pseudo-verbs for the actions (pseudo-verb condition, Experiment 2). At test, toddlers in both the meaningful-verb and pseudo-verb conditions performed more correct first tool-use actions than in the unspecific condition, with no difference between the two age groups or between the meaningful-verb and pseudo-verb conditions. Action learning was thus stronger supported through the presence of distinctive verbal labels for tools and actions rather than through the action labels’ semantic meaning.