Language and visual object recognition are two domains of human intelligence that have wide impact on all cognitive systems. Previous research suggests that attention to object shape is a strong predictor of early noun learning and that young children who are delayed in early language learning show attention to shape in noun learning tasks and also deficits in the visual recognition of common objects. These previous findings suggest developmental connections between early lexical development and visual object recognition. The overall objective of this application is to characterize this relation in 18 to 30 month old whose early language is progressing at normative rates and also in children whose early noun learning is progressing more slowly and who are risk for later language learning and language processing deficits. The rationale for doing this research is that it will lead to a deeper understanding of the interdependencies between early language learning, language delay, and developmental changes in visual object recognition. The studies will provide new developmental benchmark measure of visual object recognition and a fine-grained description of the development of visual object recognition in relation to early noun learning in typically developing and language delayed children.

Public Health Relevance

Children who are slow to learn and use language are at risk for significant difficulties in language learning, in language processing, and in later school learning. The proposed research focuses on the earliest noticeable language delays in 18- to 30-month old children and the inter-relations between early noun learning and developmental changes in visual object recognition and methods for enhancing language learning. The work is relevant to public health in that it may aid in early diagnosis and early remediation of these difficulties.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD028675-20
Application #
8777097
Study Section
Language and Communication Study Section (LCOM)
Program Officer
Freund, Lisa S
Project Start
1992-02-01
Project End
2016-12-31
Budget Start
2015-01-01
Budget End
2015-12-31
Support Year
20
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
$230,076
Indirect Cost
$80,676
Name
Indiana University Bloomington
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
006046700
City
Bloomington
State
IN
Country
United States
Zip Code
47401
Vales, Catarina; Smith, Linda B (2018) When a word is worth more than a picture: Words lower the threshold for object identification in 3-year-old children. J Exp Child Psychol 175:37-47
Smith, Linda B; Jayaraman, Swapnaa; Clerkin, Elizabeth et al. (2018) The Developing Infant Creates a Curriculum for Statistical Learning. Trends Cogn Sci 22:325-336
Carvalho, Paulo F; Vales, Catarina; Fausey, Caitlin M et al. (2018) Novel names extend for how long preschool children sample visual information. J Exp Child Psychol 168:1-18
Jayaraman, Swapnaa; Fausey, Caitlin M; Smith, Linda B (2017) Why are faces denser in the visual experiences of younger than older infants? Dev Psychol 53:38-49
Kuwabara, Megumi; Smith, Linda B (2016) Cultural differences in visual object recognition in 3-year-old children. J Exp Child Psychol 147:22-38
Montag, Jessica L; Jones, Michael N; Smith, Linda B (2015) The Words Children Hear: Picture Books and the Statistics for Language Learning. Psychol Sci 26:1489-96
Vales, Catarina; Smith, Linda B (2015) Words, shape, visual search and visual working memory in 3-year-old children. Dev Sci 18:65-79
Smith, Linda; Yu, Chen; Yoshida, Hanako et al. (2015) Contributions of head-mounted cameras to studying the visual environments of infants and young children. J Cogn Dev 16:407-419
Cantrell, Lisa; Boyer, Ty W; Cordes, Sara et al. (2015) Signal clarity: an account of the variability in infant quantity discrimination tasks. Dev Sci 18:877-93
Augustine, Elaine; Jones, Susan S; Smith, Linda B et al. (2015) Relations among early object recognition skills: Objects and letters. J Cogn Dev 16:221-235

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