Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

The productivity of the human mind is rooted in the ability to flexibly combine concepts and computations. Developmental origins of this ability remain poorly understood. In two looking-time experiments, we investigated whether 15-month-olds (N = 48) can learn two distinct functions and compose them. We used a tool that transformed objects: it had two functions (i.e., it changed the kind of the object that went inside, or duplicated it), each triggered by a different handle. Experiment 1 showed that infants could learn both functions: at test, they looked longer when the outcome of the handle manipulation did not match the performed action than when it did. In Experiment 2, following a familiarization with individual manipulations and their outcomes, both manipulations were performed simultaneously at test. Infants displayed surprise when the outcome was inconsistent with a function composition. Infants readily learn two novel functions and spontaneously combine their outcomes.