scholarly journals Measuring word learning performance in computational models and infants

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Bergmann ◽  
Lou Boves ◽  
Louis ten Bosch
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Learning Performance

Effect of speaker certainty on novel word learning in monolingual and bilingual children

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (04) ◽  
pp. 883-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
MILIJANA BUAC ◽  
AURÉLIE TAUZIN-LARCHÉ ◽  
EMILY WEISBERG ◽  
MARGARITA KAUSHANSKAYA
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Novel Word Learning ◽  
Linguistic Backgrounds ◽  
Novel Words

In the present study, we examined the effect of speaker certainty on word-learning performance in English-speaking monolingual (MAge = 6.40) and Spanish–English bilingual (MAge = 6.58) children. No group differences were observed when children learned novel words from a certain speaker. However, bilingual children were more willing to learn novel words from an uncertain speaker than their monolingual peers. These findings indicate that language experience influences how children weigh cues to speaker credibility during learning and suggest that children with more diverse linguistic backgrounds (i.e., bilinguals) are less prone to prioritizing information based on speaker certainty.

Song and infant-directed speech facilitate word learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (7) ◽  
pp. 1036-1054
Author(s):  
Weiyi Ma ◽  
Anna Fiveash ◽  
Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis ◽  
Douglas Behrend ◽  
William Forde Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Word Association ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Relationship

Two separate lines of research have examined the influence of song and infant-directed speech (IDS—a speech register that includes some melodic features) on language learning, suggesting that the use of musical attributes in speech input can enhance language learning. However, the benefits of these two types of stimuli have never been directly compared. In this investigation, we compared the effects of song and IDS for immediate word learning and long-term memory of the learned words. This study examines whether the highly musical stimuli (i.e., song) would facilitate language learning more than the less musical stimuli (i.e., IDS). English-speaking adults were administered a word learning task, with Mandarin Chinese words presented in adult-directed speech (ADS), IDS, or song. Participants’ word learning performance was assessed immediately after the word learning task (immediate word learning) and then 1 day later (long-term memory). Results showed that both song and IDS facilitated immediate word learning and long-term memory of the words; however, this facilitative effect did not differ between IDS and song, suggesting that the relationship between the degree of musicality and language learning performance is not linear. In addition, song and IDS were found to facilitate the word association process (mapping a label to its referent) rather than the word recognition process. Finally, participants’ confidence in their answers might not differ among ADS, IDS, and sung words.

scholarly journals Real-world visual statistics and infants' first-learned object names

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1711) ◽  
pp. 20160055 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Clerkin ◽  
Elizabeth Hart ◽  
James M. Rehg ◽  
Chen Yu ◽  
Linda B. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Frequency Distribution ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Real World ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Unsolved Problem ◽  
Statistical Structure ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
Object Categories ◽  
Small Set

We offer a new solution to the unsolved problem of how infants break into word learning based on the visual statistics of everyday infant-perspective scenes. Images from head camera video captured by 8 1/2 to 10 1/2 month-old infants at 147 at-home mealtime events were analysed for the objects in view. The images were found to be highly cluttered with many different objects in view. However, the frequency distribution of object categories was extremely right skewed such that a very small set of objects was pervasively present—a fact that may substantially reduce the problem of referential ambiguity. The statistical structure of objects in these infant egocentric scenes differs markedly from that in the training sets used in computational models and in experiments on statistical word-referent learning. Therefore, the results also indicate a need to re-examine current explanations of how infants break into word learning. This article is part of the themed issue ‘New frontiers for statistical learning in the cognitive sciences’.

scholarly journals Differences in word learning: bilingualism or linguistic experience?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Borragan ◽  
Angela de Bruin ◽  
Viktoria Havas ◽  
Ruth de Diego-Balaguer ◽  
Mila Dimitrova Vulchanova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Recall Task ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Similar Performance ◽  
Better Than

AbstractBilinguals may be better than monolinguals at word learning due to their increased experience with language learning. In addition, bilinguals that have languages that are orthotactically different could be more used to dissimilar orthotactic patterns. The current study examines how bilinguals with languages that are orthotactically similar and dissimilar and monolinguals learn novel words that violate or respect the orthotactic legality of the languages they know and how this learning may be affected by the similarity between the bilinguals’ two languages. In Experiment 1, three groups of children were tested: monolinguals, Spanish-Basque bilinguals (dissimilar orthotactic languages), and Spanish-Catalan bilinguals (similar orthotactic languages). After an initial word learning phase, they were tested in a recall task and a recognition task. Results showed that Spanish-Basque bilingual children performed differently than the other two groups. While Spanish monolinguals and Spanish-Catalan bilinguals recognized illegal words worse than legal words, Spanish-Basque bilinguals showed equal performance in learning illegal and legal patterns. A replication study conducted with two new groups of Spanish-Basque children (one group with high Basque proficiency and one group with a lower proficiency) indicated that the effects were not driven by the proficiency in the second language since a similar performance on legal and illegal patterns was observed in both groups. In Experiment 2, two groups of adults, monolinguals and Spanish-Basque bilinguals, were tested with the same task used in Experiment 1. The effect seen in children seems to be absent in adults. Spanish-Basque bilingual adults showed better overall learning performance than monolinguals, irrespective of the illegality of the items. Differences between groups could be due to the effect of having acquired literacy and linguistic competence.

scholarly journals Computational models of word learning

2017 ◽  
pp. 138-154
Author(s):  
Gert Westermann ◽  
Katherine Twomey
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Computational Models

scholarly journals Webcams, Songs, and Vocabulary Learning: A Comparison of In-Person and Remote Data Collection as a Way of Moving Forward With Child-Language Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanna Morini ◽  
Mackensie Blair
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Deep Level ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Testing Procedure ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Precision Data ◽  
Language Research

This article evaluates a testing procedure for collecting eye-gaze data with toddlers and preschoolers during a word-learning task. We provide feasibility and precision data by comparing performance in an in-person version of the study (conducted under controlled conditions in the lab), with performance in a virtual version in which participants completed the testing procedure from home. Our data support the feasibility of collecting remote eye-gaze data with young children, and present it as a viable alternative for conducting developmental language research when in-person interactions with participants cannot take place. Additionally, we use this methodological approach to examine a topic that has gained popularity in recent years—the role of music and songs on vocabulary learning. We provide evidence suggesting that while songs may help increase attention during a particular task, greater attention does not lead to greater learning. In fact, preschoolers show improved word-learning performance for items that were trained in a spoken sentence compared to items that were trained in a song. This means that while songs may be beneficial for increasing child engagement, spoken sentences may be best for supporting deep level learning of language concepts.

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