Exemplar Variability in Cross-Situational Word Learning Among Young Autistic Children

自闭症儿童跨情境词汇学习的范例变异性

基本信息

批准号：
10605642
负责人：
Kathryn Elaine Prescott
金额：
$ 4.68万
依托单位：
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2022
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2022-09-01 至 2024-08-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10605642
关键词：
4 year old Adolescent Adult Age Characteristics Child Child Language Clinical Collaborations Color Development Early Intervention Environment Ethics Experimental Designs Foundations Future Goals High Prevalence Image Individual Intervention Investigation Knowledge Label Language Language Delays Language Development Learning Life Measures Mentorship Methodology Methods National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Nursery Schools Pathway interactions Performance Population Preschool Child Process Property Research Research Personnel School-Age Population Schools Severities Shapes Stimulus Strategic Planning Structure Symptoms Task Performances Texture Time Training Vocabulary Work abstracting autism spectrum disorder autistic autistic children base clinical practice cohort educational atmosphere experience insight language impairment natural language negative affect novel peer responsible research conduct success theories visual tracking word learning

项目摘要

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Word-learning difficulties are common among young autistic children. If unaddressed, these early challenges can negatively affect children’s communicative and academic success. To determine appropriate strategies for early intervention, it is essential to first understand the mechanisms underlying word learning in this highly heterogenous population. Based on previous work, one mechanism available to older autistic children is cross-situational learning (CSL). However, the higher prevalence of word-learning difficulties in ASD suggests the possibility of remaining unknown factors limiting children’s ability to make efficient use of CSL in real-world language environments. One possibility is that autistic children demonstrate delays in early development of CSL with cascading consequences for word learning. Previous findings indicate that older autistic children can use CSL to learn words, but this mechanism has not yet been examined in preschool-age autistic children. Employing a Looking-While-Listening eye-tracking paradigm, Specific Aim 1 (Study 1) of the proposed project will investigate CSL in a younger group of children (2- to 4-years old). A second possibility is that prior CSL studies have not reflected the challenges of children’s natural language environments. Previous studies required children to associate only one exemplar image with each label, whereas in real-world learning situations children encounter many different objects that are all given the same label. To support word learning in these contexts, neurotypical (NT) children tend to categorize objects based on shape (known as the shape bias). Preschool- and school-age autistic children do not share this tendency with NT peers. Without a shape bias, we might expect autistic children to experience word learning difficulties when multiple exemplars are presented matching the same label and shape but varying across other perceptual features (i.e., color). Specific Aim 2 (Study 2) will examine the impact of exemplar variability on novel words in the context of CSL and ostensive training tasks in young autistic children and language-matched NT peers. Finally, Specific Aim 3 (Study 3) will examine child characteristics associated with CSL task performance in ASD. By examining autistic preschool children’s ability to learn words via CSL at a younger age and across variable exemplars, the proposed project will elucidate potential points of vulnerability in word learning for this population. Study findings will advance the NIDCD strategic plan by increasing our understanding of language mechanisms in ASD and how they function differently across individual children and environmental contexts, with clinical implications including therapy stimuli selection and establishing CSL principles as a foundation for future interventions. Training Plan. The applicant’s training will focus on acquiring new methodological and conceptual knowledge in language-learning processes, eye-tracking methods, translational experimental design, mentorship of junior researchers, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and ethical and responsible conduct of research.

项目概要/摘要单词学习困难在年幼的自闭症儿童中很常见，如果不加以解决，这些问题很早就会出现。挑战会对孩子的沟通和学业成功产生负面影响。对于早期干预策略，有必要首先了解单词学习的潜在机制根据之前的工作，针对这一高度异质的人群，我们提出了一种适用于年龄较大的自闭症儿童的机制。跨情境学习 (CSL) 然而，自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 中单词学习困难的发生率较高。仍有未知因素限制儿童在现实世界中有效利用 CSL 的能力的可能性一种可能性是自闭症儿童早期 CSL 发展迟缓。先前的研究结果表明，年龄较大的自闭症儿童可以使用单词学习。 CSL 来学习单词，但这种机制尚未在学龄前自闭症儿童中得到检验。拟议项目的具体目标 1（研究 1）将在较年轻的儿童群体（2 至 4 岁）中调查 CSL 第二种可能性是之前的 CSL 研究。以往的研究并未反映儿童自然语言环境所面临的挑战。仅将一个示例图像与每个标签相关联，而在现实世界的学习情况中，儿童遇到许多不同的物体，这些物体都被赋予相同的标签，以支持这些上下文中的单词学习，神经典型（NT）儿童倾向于根据形状对物体进行分类（称为形状偏差）。我们可以预期，如果没有体形偏见，学龄自闭症儿童不会与其他同龄人有这种倾向。当出现与自闭症儿童相匹配的多个示例时，自闭症儿童会遇到单词学习困难相同的标签和形状，但其他感知特征（即颜色）会有所不同。检查 CSL 和强化训练任务中范例变异性对新词的影响最后，具体目标 3（研究 3）将检查儿童。通过检查自闭症学龄前儿童的能力，研究与 ASD 中的 CSL 任务表现相关的特征。为了在更年轻的时候通过 CSL 学习单词并跨变量范例，拟议的项目将阐明该人群在单词学习中的潜在脆弱点研究结果将推动 NIDCD 的发展。通过增加我们对 ASD 语言机制及其不同功能的理解来制定战略计划跨越个体儿童和环境背景，具有临床意义，包括治疗刺激选择并建立 CSL 原则作为申请人未来培训计划的基础。培训将侧重于获取语言学习过程中的新方法和概念知识，眼球追踪方法、转化实验设计、初级研究人员的指导、跨学科合作，以及道德和负责任的研究行为。