Symbolic flexibility during unsupervised word learning in children and adults

Tanja C Roembke; Kelsey K Wiggs; Bob McMurray

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2018.05.016

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Symbolic flexibility during unsupervised word learning in children and adults

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Symbolic flexibility during unsupervised word learning in children and adults

Tanja C Roembke, Kelsey K Wiggs and Bob McMurray

Journal of experimental child psychology, Vol.175, pp.17-36

11/2018

DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.05.016

PMCID: PMC6086380

PMID: 29979958

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2018.05.016View

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Abstract

Considerable debate in language acquisition concerns whether word learning is driven by domain-general (symbolically flexible) or domain-specific learning mechanisms. Prior work has shown that very young children can map objects to either words or nonlinguistic sounds, but by 20 months of age this ability narrows to only words. This suggests that although symbolically flexible mechanisms are operative early, they become more specified over development. However, such research has been conducted only with young children in ostensive teaching contexts. Thus, we investigated symbolic flexibility at later ages in more referentially ambiguous learning situations. In Experiment 1, 47 6- to 8-year-olds acquired eight symbol–object mappings in a cross-situational word learning paradigm where multiple mappings are learned based only on co-occurrence. In the word condition participants learned with novel pseudowords, whereas in the sound condition participants learned with nonlinguistic sounds (e.g., beeps). Children acquired the mappings, but performance did not differ across conditions, suggesting broad symbolic flexibility. In Experiment 2, 41 adults learned 16 mappings in a comparable design. They learned with ease in both conditions but showed a significant advantage for words. Thus, symbolic flexibility decreases with age, potentially due to repeated experiences with linguistic materials. Moreover, trial-by-trial analyses of the microstructure of both children’s and adults’ performance did not reveal any substantial differences due to condition, consistent with the hypothesis that learning mechanisms are generally employed similarly with both words and nonlinguistic sounds.

Language development

Cross-situational learning

Vocabulary acquisition

Symbolic flexibility

Word learning

Statistical learning

Details

Title: Subtitle: Symbolic flexibility during unsupervised word learning in children and adults
Creators: Tanja C Roembke - Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Kelsey K Wiggs - Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
Bob McMurray - Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Journal of experimental child psychology, Vol.175, pp.17-36
DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.05.016
PMID: 29979958
PMCID: PMC6086380
NLM abbreviation: J Exp Child Psychol
ISSN: 0022-0965
eISSN: 1096-0457
Publisher: Elsevier Inc
Language: English
Date published: 11/2018
Academic Unit: Communication Sciences and Disorders; Linguistics; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science; Otolaryngology
Record Identifier: 9984070337202771

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