Can changing background colors help two-year-olds remember new words?

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Variability is common in early language acquisition, but whether it helps or hinders learning is unclear. Previous research has shown that variability in target items can help word learning, whereas variability in competing items can make the task harder.

The researchers conducted a two-condition experiment to test whether background variability could improve learning in a referent selection task—a task involving matching a label to an object. Two groups of 2-year-old children saw arrays containing one novel object and two known objects on a screen and heard either a novel or a known label. The stimuli were identical across conditions except for the background: in the constant color condition, objects appeared against a uniform white background; in the variable color condition, backgrounds were different, uniform colors.

At test, only children in the variable color condition showed evidence of retaining label–object associations.

The researchers interpret these data as supporting findings from adult memory research suggesting that variability supports learning by decontextualizing representations—that is, making what is learned less tied to its context. They also argue that the data are consistent with dynamic systems accounts of learning, in which low-level entropy adds enough noise to the developmental system to bring about a change in behavior.