ABSTRACT
This chapter is about metaphors and how they determine research questions, data analyses, and theoretical interpretations. The chapter begins with a common metaphor in the study of cognitive development, one that portrays knowledge as a "thing" that children "have" and as distinct from performance. This metaphor has strongly shaped the way research is done, but it fits only some aspects of cognition and not others. Next, the chapter reviews findings on contextual effects in young children’s word learning. The contextual variability in children’s initial interpretation of a novel word is not well captured by the traditional metaphor. Finally, the chapter presents a new metaphor and new method for studying cognition in young children.
