Learning word meanings in a first language should be a difficult task. The number and range of possible meanings to be learned is immense and, by some arguments, indeterminate from the typical information provided to young children. Despite these challenges, between 18- and 30-months-of-age the typical child's productive vocabulary increases tenfold. Many of the new words children learn at this age are nouns. Previous research suggests that the task of learning new nouns is made easier by biases or constraints that direct children's attention to the correct features of objects for name learning. Despite considerable empirical support for these word learning biases, however, little is known about their origins or the mechanisms by which they are implemented. This is the focus of the present proposal. The present study will test and augment a processed-based developmental account of how perceptual word learning biases develop. Specifically, the empirical studies proposed here are based on the proposal that the bias to attend shape young children demonstrate when learning names for novel solid objects is the developmental product of the early noun vocabulary. Thirteen studies will test specific predictions concerning the relation between young children's vocabularies, category knowledge, and the development of word learning biases. In so doing these studies will further our understanding of the mechanisms that support young children's smart word learning abilities. The present research has potential implications for developmental delays in language learning and specifically for children who evidence delays in learning words. Previous research in this area suggests that children given intensive exposure to sets of words designed to create a precocious word learning bias not only develop an early bias but show acceleration in their subsequent acquisition of new words outside the laboratory. This suggests the possibility of interventions to help children with delays in word learning. Before such interventions can be developed, however, much more needs to be known about the basic processes that support the development of word learning biases. Thus, the present research is designed to lay the foundation for the application of ? what is known about the development of word learning biases to children with delays in word learning. ? ?

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD045713-02
Application #
6914351
Study Section
Language and Communication Study Section (LCOM)
Program Officer
Mccardle, Peggy D
Project Start
2004-07-01
Project End
2009-04-30
Budget Start
2005-05-01
Budget End
2006-04-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$165,938
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Iowa
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
062761671
City
Iowa City
State
IA
Country
United States
Zip Code
52242
Kucker, Sarah C; Samuelson, Larissa K; Perry, Lynn K et al. (2018) Reproducibility and a unifying explanation: Lessons from the shape bias. Infant Behav Dev :
Kucker, Sarah C; McMurray, Bob; Samuelson, Larissa K (2018) Too Much of a Good Thing: How Novelty Biases and Vocabulary Influence Known and Novel Referent Selection in 18-Month-Old Children and Associative Learning Models. Cogn Sci 42 Suppl 2:463-493
Samuelson, Larissa K; McMurray, Bob (2017) What does it take to learn a word? Wiley Interdiscip Rev Cogn Sci 8:
Samuelson, Larissa K; Kucker, Sarah C; Spencer, John P (2017) Moving Word Learning to a Novel Space: A Dynamic Systems View of Referent Selection and Retention. Cogn Sci 41 Suppl 1:52-72
Perone, Sammy; Molitor, Stephen J; Buss, Aaron T et al. (2015) Enhancing the executive functions of 3-year-olds in the Dimensional Change Card Sort task. Child Dev 86:812-27
Kucker, Sarah C; McMurray, Bob; Samuelson, Larissa K (2015) Slowing Down Fast Mapping: Redefining the Dynamics of Word Learning. Child Dev Perspect 9:74-78
Samuelson, Larissa K; Jenkins, Gavin W; Spencer, John P (2015) Grounding cognitive-level processes in behavior: the view from dynamic systems theory. Top Cogn Sci 7:191-205
Jenkins, Gavin W; Samuelson, Larissa K; Smith, Jodi R et al. (2015) Non-Bayesian noun generalization in 3- to 5-year-old children: probing the role of prior knowledge in the suspicious coincidence effect. Cogn Sci 39:268-306
Perry, Lynn K; Samuelson, Larissa K; Burdinie, Johanna B (2014) Highchair philosophers: the impact of seating context-dependent exploration on children's naming biases. Dev Sci 17:757-65
Perone, Sammy; Spencer, John P (2013) Autonomous visual exploration creates developmental change in familiarity and novelty seeking behaviors. Front Psychol 4:648

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