Toddlers' representations of verbs: Effects of delay and sleep on verb meaning

幼儿对动词的表征：延迟和睡眠对动词含义的影响

• 批准号: 8243330
• 负责人: Sudha Arunachalam
• 金额: $ 7.63万
• 依托单位: NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-02-20 至 2014-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8243330
• 关键词: 2 year old; Address; Adult; Applied Research; Basic Science; Brothers; Child; Cognitive; Cues; Development; Developmental Delay Disorders; Event; Felis catus; Foundations; Glean; Goals; Hearing; Home environment; Intervention; Knowledge; Language Delays; Language Development; Language Disorders; Learning; Linguistics; Literature; Maps; Memory; Methods; Mothers; Participant; Process; Research; Role; Series; Sleep; Speech; Stream; Testing; Time; Toddler; Visual; Vocabulary; Woman; Work; abstracting; arm; base; innovation; insight; knowledge base; lexical; lexical processing; man; member; novel; research study; success; syntax; time use

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The experiments described in this proposal investigate the process by which young children learn new words. Children as young as two years old can rapidly assign a meaning to a new word that they hear. There is a strong intuitive assumption that to establish this meaning, learners must hear the word in the presence of its referent, for example, hearing [kaet] in the presence of a cat, or [kIk] in the presence of a kickig action. Yet, in the natural course of events, words, especially verbs, are often introduced in the absence of their referents (e.g., "Let's pack our bag"). Strikingly, analyses reveal that when conversing with their young children, most of the verbs produced by mothers refer to absent events. How, then, do they establish meaning for new verbs? We aim to develop a paradigm and offer an empirical foundation to address this issue. We do so by presenting 2-year-olds with novel verbs in linguistic contexts only, without a relevant visual scene. After a delay, we offer them candidate visual events to determine if they have (a) assigned meaning to the novel verbs, and (b) can recall these meanings even after a delay. We also assess whether a period of sleep during the delay helps toddlers integrate the new verb into their existing lexical knowledge. The proposed work aims to characterize the process of vocabulary acquisition. Understanding the mechanisms of language acquisition is crucial not only to a theoretical understanding of language acquisition and cognitive development, but also has implications for helping children with developmental delays. The research described here contributes to a growing base of knowledge about learning in typically-developing children, which is key in understanding how learning may diverge in children with language delays and disabilities. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed work aims to characterize the process of vocabulary acquisition. Understanding the mechanisms of language acquisition is crucial not only to a theoretical understanding of language acquisition and cognitive development, but also has implications for applied research aimed at helping children with developmental and language delays. The research described here contributes to a growing base of knowledge about learning in typically-developing children, which is key in understanding how learning may diverge in children with language delays and disabilities.

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案中描述的实验调查了幼儿学习新单词的过程。两岁以下的孩子可以迅速为他们听到的新单词分配意义。有一个强烈的直观假设，即要确定这种含义，学习者必须在其存在的存在下听到这个词，例如，在存在猫的情况下听到[kaet]，或者在kickig行动的情况下[Kik]。然而，在自然的事件过程中，尤其是动词，通常是在没有指称的情况下引入的（例如，“让我们打包我们的书包”）。令人惊讶的是，分析表明，与年幼的孩子交谈时，母亲产生的大多数动词都提到了缺席事件。那么，它们如何确定新动词的意义？我们旨在开发范式，并为解决这个问题提供经验基础。我们这样做是通过在语言环境中向2岁儿童展示新的动词，而没有相关的视觉场景。延迟后，我们为他们提供候选视觉事件，以确定它们是否具有（a）为新动词分配的含义，并且（b）即使延迟后也可以回忆起这些含义。我们还评估延迟期间的睡眠期是否有助于幼儿将新动词整合到他们现有的词汇知识中。 拟议的工作旨在表征词汇获取的过程。了解语言获取的机制不仅对于对语言获取和认知发展的理论理解至关重要，而且对帮助有发展延迟的儿童具有影响。这里描述的研究为越来越多的知识基础做出了典型的学习基础，这是了解学习语言延迟和残疾儿童如何分歧的关键。 公共卫生相关性：拟议的工作旨在表征词汇获取过程。了解语言获取的机制不仅对于对语言获取和认知发展的理论理解至关重要，而且对应用于帮助有发展和语言延迟的儿童的应用研究具有影响。这里描述的研究为越来越多的知识基础做出了典型的学习基础，这是了解学习语言延迟和残疾儿童如何分歧的关键。