In many situations people have to process simultaneously presented auditory and visual information, and this ability is especially important for lexical development where auditorily presented words often co-occur with visually presented objects and scenes. We argue that processing of cross-modal input depends on two critical parameters: (a) the speed of orienting to a modality relative to the competing modality and (b) the dwell time of attention. We also argue that both parameters undergo developmental change, which results in faster and more efficient processing of cross-modal input. Based on these ideas, we propose a project that (a) estimates the critical parameters of auditory-visual processing (Study 1) and (b) uses these parameters to understand the ability to extract the structure from visual input, such as category learning or learning of correlations (Study 2). The major innovation of the proposed research is the theoretical proposal linking some important aspects of cognitive development to more basic mechanism(s) underlying cross-modal processing. The proposed project has two specific aims.
Specific aim 1 is to determine how auditory input affects attention allocated to corresponding visual input and to develop a modality-independent measure capable of examining auditory, visual and cross-modal processing.
Specific aim 2 is to directly test the ability of attentional mechanisms underlying crossmodal processing to account for effects of auditory input on the ability to extract statistical structure from visual input. The experiments will be guided by our hypothesis that the attentional mechanism underlying cross-modal processing can account for performance on higher-order cognitive tasks, which require processing of visual structure such as word learning, category learning and learning of multiple contingencies. Each study will include multiple experiments with 8-, 12- and 16-monthold infants and will include a variety of methodologies. The proposed research is important because it will generate new knowledge affecting our understanding of the development of attention and its role in cross-modal processing, thus revealing some basic mechanisms of early lexical and cognitive development. This knowledge may also have broader impact on the clinical community by elucidating factors underlying Specific Language Impairments (SLI).

Public Health Relevance

This proposal addresses a key question in early word learning, which is how do infants process simultaneously presented auditory and visual information. This research will help researchers, parents and teachers to better understand word learning in typical and atypical populations, and the information gained from this research will be fundamental for understanding how exposure to a language influences the way infants perceive their world.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD056105-02
Application #
7929578
Study Section
Cognition and Perception Study Section (CP)
Program Officer
Mccardle, Peggy D
Project Start
2009-09-10
Project End
2012-08-31
Budget Start
2010-09-01
Budget End
2012-08-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$455,551
Indirect Cost
Name
Ohio State University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
832127323
City
Columbus
State
OH
Country
United States
Zip Code
43210
Sloutsky, Vladimir M; Sophia Deng, Wei; Fisher, Anna V et al. (2015) Conceptual influences on induction: A case for a late onset. Cogn Psychol 82:1-31
Darby, Kevin P; Sloutsky, Vladimir M (2015) When Delays Improve Memory: Stabilizing Memory in Children May Require Time. Psychol Sci 26:1937-46
Kloos, Heidi; Sloutsky, Vladimir M (2013) Blocking a redundant cue: what does it say about preschoolers' causal competence? Dev Sci 16:713-27
Sloutsky, Vladimir M; Robinson, Christopher W (2013) Redundancy matters: flexible learning of multiple contingencies in infants. Cognition 126:156-64
Robinson, Christopher W; Sloutsky, Vladimir M (2013) When audition dominates vision: evidence from cross-modal statistical learning. Exp Psychol 60:113-21
Deng, W; Sloutsky, Vladimir M (2013) The role of linguistic labels in inductive generalization. J Exp Child Psychol 114:432-55
Best, Catherine A; Yim, Hyungwook; Sloutsky, Vladimir M (2013) The cost of selective attention in category learning: developmental differences between adults and infants. J Exp Child Psychol 116:105-19
Sloutsky, Vladimir M; Fisher, Anna V (2012) Effects of categorical labels on similarity judgments: a critical evaluation of a critical analysis: comment on Noles and Gelman (2012). Dev Psychol 48:897-900; discussion 901-6
Deng, Wei; Sloutsky, Vladimir M (2012) Carrot eaters or moving heads: inductive inference is better supported by salient features than by category labels. Psychol Sci 23:178-86
Hammer, Rubi; Sloutsky, Vladimir; Grill-Spector, Kalanit (2012) The Interplay between Feature-Saliency and Feedback Information in Visual Category Learning Tasks. Cogsci 2012:420-425

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