The Novel Object and Unusual Name (NOUN) Database: A collection of novel images for use in experimental research

• Published in: Behavior research methods Vol. 48; no. 4; pp. 1393 - 1409
• Main Authors: Horst, Jessica S., Hout, Michael C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Behavioral Research - methods; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Cognitive Psychology; Databases, Factual; Design of experiments; Developmental psychology; Female; Humans; Male; Names; Photic Stimulation - methods; Psychology; Recognition (Psychology); Word learning; Picture database; Categorization; Novelty ratings; Novel objects; Unnameable stimuli
• ISSN: 1554-3528; 1554-3528
• DOI: 10.3758/s13428-015-0647-3

Many experimental research designs require images of novel objects. Here we introduce the Novel Object and Unusual Name (NOUN) Database. This database contains 64 primary novel object images and additional novel exemplars for ten basic- and nine global-level object categories. The objects’ novelty was confirmed by both self-report and a lack of consensus on questions that required participants to name and identify the objects. We also found that object novelty correlated with qualifying naming responses pertaining to the objects’ colors. The results from a similarity sorting task (and a subsequent multidimensional scaling analysis on the similarity ratings) demonstrated that the objects are complex and distinct entities that vary along several featural dimensions beyond simply shape and color. A final experiment confirmed that additional item exemplars comprised both sub- and superordinate categories. These images may be useful in a variety of settings, particularly for developmental psychology and other research in the language, categorization, perception, visual memory, and related domains.