The production of “child-like” word associations by adults to unfamiliar adjectives

Free word association patterns produced by adults to relatively unfamiliar adjective stimuli tend to be similar to the association patterns given by young children to common adjectives. Adult responses to familiar adjectives are essentially the same as older children's responses to the same stimuli. These results are interpreted as supporting the view that previously reported patterns of associations of young children are principally attributable to the child's unfamiliarity with the stimulus word rather than his immature cognitive processes.