Prediction error boosts retention of novel words in adults but not in children

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Gambi ◽  
Martin John Pickering ◽  
Hugh Rabagliati
Keyword(s):  
Prediction Error ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Novel Object ◽  
Memory Traces ◽  
Prior Expectation ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Novel Words

How do we update our linguistic knowledge? In seven experiments, we asked whether error-driven learning can explain under what circumstances adults and children are more likely to store and retain a new word meaning. Participants were exposed to novel object labels in the context of more or less constraining sentences or visual contexts. Both two-to-four-year-olds (Mage = 38 months) and adults were strongly affected by expectations based on sentence constraint when choosing the referent of a new label. In addition, adults formed stronger memory traces for novel words that violated a stronger prior expectation. However, preschoolers’ memory was unaffected by the strength of their prior expectations. We conclude that the encoding of new word-object associations in memory is affected by prediction error in adults, but not in preschoolers.

Napping and toddlers’ memory for fast-mapped words

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 582-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma L. Axelsson ◽  
Jaclyn Swinton ◽  
Amanda I. Winiger ◽  
Jessica S. Horst
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Retention Test ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Novel Object ◽  
Referent Selection ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Children's Memory ◽  
Novel Words

When toddlers hear a novel word, they quickly and independently link it with a novel object rather than known-name objects. However, they are less proficient in retaining multiple novel words. Sleep and even short naps can enhance declarative memory in adults and children and this study investigates the effect of napping on children’s memory for novel words. Forty two-and-a-half-year-old children were presented with referent selection trials for four novel nouns. Children’s retention of the words was tested immediately after referent selection, four hours later in the afternoon, and the following morning. Half of the toddlers napped prior to the afternoon retention test. Amongst the toddlers who napped, retention scores remained steady four hours after exposure and the following morning. In contrast, for the wake group, there was a steady decline in retention scores by the following morning and significantly lower retention scores compared to the nap group. Napping following exposure to novel word–object associations could help in maintaining memories and limiting decay. Nap duration was also associated with better retention scores, but there were no effects of sleep quality, habitual napping, or sleepiness. The findings have implications for the role of napping in children’s language acquisition.

scholarly journals How Optimal is Word-Referent Identification Under Multimodal Uncertainty?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdellah Fourtassi ◽  
Michael C. Frank
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Ideal Observer ◽  
Optimal Model ◽  
Sources Of Uncertainty ◽  
Multimodal Information ◽  
Model Predictions ◽  
Observer Model ◽  
Novel Words

Identifying a spoken word in a referential context requires both the ability to integrate multimodal input and the ability to reason under uncertainty. How do these tasks interact with one another? We study how adults identify novel words under joint uncertainty in the auditory and visual modalities and we propose an ideal observer model of how cues in these modalities are combined optimally. Model predictions are tested in four experiments where recognition is made under various sources of uncertainty. We found that participants use both auditory and visual cues to recognize novel words. When the signal is not distorted with environmental noise, participants weight the auditory and visual cues optimally, that is, according to the relative reliability of each modality. In contrast, when one modality has noise added to it, human perceivers systematically prefer the unperturbed modality to a greater extent than the optimal model does. This work extends the literature on perceptual cue combination to the case of word recognition in a referential context. In addition, this context offers a link to the study of multimodal information in word meaning learning.

Orthographic Overlap and Category Size in Unconscious Category Priming

2008 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 350-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Abrams
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Category Size ◽  
Category Priming ◽  
Whole Word ◽  
Comparable Magnitude ◽  
Novel Words

Van den Bussche and Reynvoet (2007, Experiment 1 ) report unconscious priming of comparable magnitude from novel words belonging to small and large categories, evidence that they interpret as demonstrating independence from category size of priming that involves semantic analysis. Three experiments raise the possibility that the findings in Experiment 1c of Van den Bussche and Reynvoet reflect subword processing, not semantic analysis. In Experiments 1 and 2, priming was obtained from primes and targets that shared approximately the same degree of subword features as in Experiment 1c of Van den Bussche and Reynvoet, but no priming occurred when sharing of features was minimized. Experiment 3 demonstrated priming driven by subword features when those features were set in opposition to whole-word meaning. These results indicate that orthographic overlap must be considered a potentially important confound in findings that ostensibly support priming mediated by semantic analysis.

scholarly journals 0086 Daytime Napping and Memory Consolidation of Novel Word Learning in Children and Adults

SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A35-A35
Author(s):  
E van Rijn ◽  
S A Walker ◽  
V C Knowland ◽  
S A Cairney ◽  
A D Gouws ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Slow Wave Sleep ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Nrem Sleep ◽  
Sleep Spindles ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Structural Brain ◽  
Novel Words

Abstract Introduction Memory for novel words benefits from sleep, particularly non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and its features, such as sleep spindles and slow oscillations. This is consistent with systems consolidation models, in which sleep supports transfer from hippocampal to neocortical memory networks. Larger amounts of slow wave sleep in children has been proposed to account for enhanced consolidation effects, but such studies have typically focused on nocturnal sleep. We examined whether daytime naps benefit word retention in adults and children aged 10–12 years, and whether this relationship in children is affected by differences in white matter pathway microstructure. We hypothesized that the link between memory consolidation and structural brain connectivity will be mediated by the degree of sleep spindles during the nap. Methods Adults (N = 31; mean age = 20.91, SD = 1.55) and children (N = 38; mean age = 11.95, SD = 0.88) learned spoken novel words, followed by a 90-minute nap opportunity monitored with polysomnography. Memory for the words was tested pre- and post-nap. Children’s structural brain connectivity was measured using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Results Word memory was preserved following sleep in adults, while an adult wake control condition showed deterioration. Similarly, in children memory performance was stable over the nap, with wake control data currently being collected. Analyses relating behavioral changes over the nap to NREM sleep features and structural brain connectivity will be presented. Conclusion In line with sleep-dependent memory consolidation models, daytime naps protect novel words from forgetting in adults and children. Examining potential relationships between nap-based consolidation and structural integrity has important theoretical implications, given the increase in brain connectivity in language areas during childhood, as well as white matter alterations in developmental populations. Support This research was supported by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, grant no. ES/N009924/1.

Speaker reliability in preschoolers' inferences about the meanings of novel words

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID M. SOBEL ◽  
JULIE SEDIVY ◽  
DAVID W. BUCHANAN ◽  
RACHEL HENNESSY
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Novel Object ◽  
Children's Behavior ◽  
Data Support ◽  
History Of ◽  
Familiar Objects ◽  
Novel Words

ABSTRACTPreschoolers participated in a modified version of the disambiguation task, designed to test whether the pragmatic environment generated by a reliable or unreliable speaker affected how children interpreted novel labels. Two objects were visible to children, while a third was only visible to the speaker (a fact known by the child). Manipulating whether a novel object was visible to both interlocutors or hidden from the child tested the child's understanding of pragmatic expectations of interlocutor competence. When interacting with a speaker with a history of accurately labeling familiar objects, children responded appropriately in both cases. Whn interacting with a speaker who previously generated inaccurate labels for familiar objects, children's behavior and eye-movements reflected their belief that the speaker was not a competent communicator. These data support the hypothesis that children consider the pragmatic environment constructed by an interlocutor when that speaker asks them to make a lexical inference.

The Type, but Not the Amount, of Information Available Influences Toddlers' Fast Mapping and Retention of New Words

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn W. Brady ◽  
Judith C. Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Fast Mapping ◽  
New Words ◽  
Amount Of Information ◽  
Significant Rate ◽  
Mapping Task ◽  
Novel Words

Purpose The authors of this study examined whether the type and number of word-learning cues affect how children infer and retain word-meaning mappings and whether the use of these cues changes with age. Method Forty-eight 18- to 36-month-old children with typical language participated in a fast-mapping task in which 6 novel words were presented with 3 types of cues to the words' referents, either singly or in pairs. One day later, children were tested for retention of the novel words. Results By 24 months of age, children correctly inferred the referents of the novel words at a significant level. Children retained the meanings of words at a significant rate by 30 months of age. Children retained the first 3 of the 6 word-meaning mappings by 24 months of age. For both fast mapping and retention, the efficacy of different cue types changed with development, but children were equally successful whether the novel words were presented with 1 or 2 cues. Conclusion The type of information available to children at fast mapping affects their ability to both form and retain word-meaning associations. Providing children with more information in the form of paired cues had no effect on either fast mapping or retention.

scholarly journals The role of timing and prototypical causality on how preschoolers fast-map novel verb meanings

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Abbot-Smith ◽  
Mutsumi Imai ◽  
Samantha Durrant ◽  
Erika Nurmsoo
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Visual Salience ◽  
Verb Learning ◽  
Improve Performance ◽  
Novel Object ◽  
Relative Ease ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Novel Words

In controlled contexts, young children find it more difficult to learn novel words for actions than words for objects: Imai et al. found that English-speaking three-year-olds mistakenly choose a novel object as a referent for a novel verb about 42% of the time despite hearing the verb in a transitive sentence. The current two studies investigated whether English three- and five-year-old children would find resultative actions easier (since they are prototypically causative) than the non-resultative, durative event types used in Imai et al.’s studies. The reverse was true. Furthermore, if the novel verbs were taught on completion of the action, this did not improve performance, which contrasts with previous findings. The resultative actions in the two studies reported here were punctual, change-of-location events which may be less visually salient than the non-resulative, durative actions. Visual salience may play a greater role than does degree of action causality in the relative ease of verb learning even at three years.

The Russian prefix pod- from the viewpoint of lexical concepts

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 462-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHANNA VIIMARANTA
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Representation ◽  
Dynamic Process ◽  
Conceptual Models ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Vertical Movement ◽  
Cognitive Models ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Lexical Concepts ◽  
Permanent Property ◽  
National Corpus

abstractThe Russian prefix pod- has several meanings, both concrete ones having to do with approaching or being under or down, and a series of seemingly unrelated abstract meanings such as imitating, ingratiating, or doing in secret. This paper approaches the polysemy of pod- from the viewpoint of the Theory of Lexical Concepts and Conceptual Models (LCCM) that sees word meaning not as a permanent property of words, but as a dynamic process in which context and accessed non-linguistic knowledge representation play an important role. This approach uses the notion of lexical concepts to describe the mediating unit between concrete linguistic examples and cognitive models that these examples are connected to. The 505 verbs analyzed bring up the lexical concepts [UNDER], [VERTICAL MOVEMENT], [CLOSE], and [CONTACT]. The connection of these lexical concepts with certain metaphorical and metonymical models is also discussed. Twelve of the 505 verbs are examined more closely in different contexts with the help of twenty-nine illustrative examples from the spoken corpus of the Russian National Corpus.

scholarly journals Children’s ability to use speaker certainty in learning novel words

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myrthe Bergstra ◽  
Hannah de Mulder ◽  
Peter Coopmans
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Novel Object ◽  
Dutch Children ◽  
Novel Words

One of the cues that children might use in learning words is the level of certainty that speakers demonstrate in their naming of a novel object. This study presented 52 4–5 year old Dutch children with a word-learning task in which two puppets each used the same label for a different novel object. In three conditions, puppets expressed their level of speaker certainty lexically (e.g. ‘I know this is a mit’ vs. ‘I think this is a mit’), they used discourse means to convey certainty (e.g. ‘I play with this a lot. Yes, a mit’, vs. ‘I’ve never played with this. Well, a mit’) or they combined the two. In all conditions, children were more likely to pick the object referred to by the more certain puppet as the referent of the new word, demonstrating that speaker certainty is a relevant cue in the word learning process.

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