Word learning in the context of referential and salience cues.

Abstract

Adult referential behavior (gaze direction) and salience (target activation) were independently manipulated in a study of novel word learning. Children (seventy-five 18-month-olds and seventy-two 24-month-olds) were trained in different conditions with a novel word in the context of 2 remote-controlled toys. In response to the novel word at test, 24-month-olds tended to pick out the toy to which the adult referred in all conditions. They also tended to use the novel word appropriately. Comprehension by 18-month-olds was good when the salience of the toy did not conflict with the adult's referential intent, but it was disrupted when referential and salience cues conflicted and when referential cues were not available. Results imply that, at 24 months, children use the referential intent of the speaker to learn new words, but when first learning words, children may have a less secure grasp on the meaning of speakers' referential cues.

A communicative approach to early word learning

“…More recent studies using different paradigms show similar results: Young children succeed at above-chance levels, but there is significant development well into late childhood (Hollich et al, 2000;Moore et al, 1999;Yurovsky et al, 2013a;80 Yurovsky & Frank, in press). In all of these paradigms, success is defined as the ability to use the speaker's gaze and head direction to distinguish whether she is referring to an object on her left or an object on her right.…”

Putting Language Back in the Body: Speech and Gesture on Three Time Frames

“…They smile. Speech is inextricably embedded in a rich context of nonverbal action (Baldwin, 1993;Bates, 1976;Bruner, 1984;Moore, Angelopoulos, & Bennett, 1999;Morford & Goldin-Meadow, 1992;Tomasello, 1992). What effect do these nonverbal actions have on children's ability to comprehend language?…”

“…Recent research suggests that even children as young as 6-months-old can follow an adult's gaze under certain circumstances (Morales, Mundy, & Rojas, 1998). This suggests that joint attention may lay the groundwork for later language learning (Baldwin, 1993;Moore et al, 1999). Indeed, Baldwin (1993) argued that 18-month-olds use an adult's eye gaze to infer the adult's intentions.…”

Infants rapidly learn word-referent mappings via cross-situational statistics

“…Yet many studies find that children even as old as 18 months have difficulty in making the right inferences about the intended referents of novel words (e.g., Katz, Baker, & Macnamara, 1974;Hirsh-Pasek, Golinkoff, & Hollich, 1999;Moore, Angelopoulos, & Bennett, 1999;Pruden, Hirsh-Pasek, Golinkoff, & Hennon, 2006). There are studies showing that infants as young as 13 or 14 months (Woodward, Markman, & Fitzsimmons, 1994;Woodward & Hoyne, 1999;Schafer & Plunkett, 1998; but perhaps not younger, Werker, Cohen, Lloyd, Casasola, & Stager, 1998) can link a name to an object given repeated unambiguous pairings in a single session.…”