From Statistics to Meaning

Abstract

Infants are highly sensitive to statistical patterns in their auditory language input that mark word categories (e.g., noun and verb). However, it is unknown whether experience with these cues facilitates the acquisition of semantic properties of word categories. In a study testing this hypothesis, infants first listened to an artificial language in which word categories were reliably distinguished by statistical cues (experimental group) or in which these properties did not cue category membership (control group). Both groups were then trained on identical pairings between the words and pictures from two categories (animals and vehicles). Only infants in the experimental group learned the trained associations between specific words and pictures. Moreover, these infants generalized the pattern to include novel pairings. These results suggest that experience with statistical cues marking lexical categories sets the stage for learning the meanings of individual words and for generalizing meanings to new category members.

The Distribution of Talker Variability Impacts Infants’ Word Learning

“…Pairing language categories with objects can help learners differentiate sounds (Yeung & Werker, 2009), learn phonological rules (Frank et al, 2009;Thiessen, 2012;van den Bos et al, 2012), and segment words (at least in adulthood; Thiessen, 2010). Statistical information like transitional probabilities (Graf Estes et al, 2007) or distributional cues (Lany & Saffran, 2010;Thiessen, 2007) can facilitate word learning. Christiansen, (2013a;2013b) has argued that cue redundancy is a crucial component of language.…”

Parent Telegraphic Speech Use and Spoken Language in Preschoolers With ASD

“…Determiners may facilitate word learning by providing information about nouns as a lexical category (Lany & Saffran, 2010). In grammatical input, determiners often precede nouns; in fact, the is immediately followed by a noun up to 93% of the time in speech directed to typically developing young children (Thorpe & Fernald, 2006).…”

Lexical learning and lexical processing in children with developmental language impairments

“…Moreover, infants are able map the outputs of statistical learning (e.g. potential word forms) to referents and to lexical categories, without explicit instruction or reinforcement [37][38][39], consistent with statistical learning having a role to play in natural language development (for a review, see [40]). Building on this work examining statistical learning and language learning in typical development, Evans et al [41] asked whether children with LI showed differences in statistical learning, relative to age-matched controls.…”