Knowledge embedded in process: the self‐organization of skilled noun learning

Colunga, Eliana; Smith, Linda B.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00665.x

Cited by 59 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…This preference was especially noteworthy in the disambiguation trials of both studies where children should have favored the distracter. In addition, this overall preference for the matching object suggests that amodal features like shape may be processed with a richness and depth not often described in the word-learning literature (although, see Colunga & Smith, 2008;Samuelson & Smith, 1998). However, that this preference was apparent in response to various types of auditory information in the current paradigm may also be viewed as potentially problematic because it leaves unclear whether children make meaningful distinctions between the types of auditory information they receive during episodes of multimodal word learning and, ultimately, whether the word plays a unique role in episodes of multimodal word learning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…, or by the basic perceptual and cognitive machinery that supports many types of learning (Colunga & Smith, 2008;Samuelson & Smith, 1998; though see Booth & Waxman, 2008). These are often seen as competing accounts, though there have been attempts to integrate various components of the accounts into a single framework for explaining word learning (e.g., Hollich et al, 2000).…”

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confidence: 97%

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Preschool Children's Multimodal Word Learning

Scofield

Hernandez‐Reif

Keith

2009

Journal of Cognition and Development

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Two studies used a new paradigm to examine preschool children's (i.e., 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds) word learning across multiple sense modalities. In Study 1 (n ¼ 60), children heard a word for an object that they touched but did not see, while word learning was examined using objects that were seen but not touched. In Study 2 (n ¼ 60), children heard a word for an object that they saw but did not touch, while word learning was examined using objects that were touched but not seen. Findings from both studies revealed that children were able to learn words by coordinating information across multiple sense modalities and that word learning improved with age. These findings are discussed in terms of E. J. Gibson's differentiation theory (1969, 1988).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

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confidence: 97%

Preschool Children's Multimodal Word Learning

Scofield

Hernandez‐Reif

Keith

2009

Journal of Cognition and Development

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“…The first approach holds that the shape bias in word learning contexts is acquired by attentional learning in the course of early (count) noun acquisition (Smith et al, 1996; Colunga and Smith, 2005, 2008). According to this account, toddlers learn a system of statistical regularities that establish a link between linguistic devices, the properties of objects, and perceptual category organization.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preschoolers? Novel Noun Extensions: Shape in Spite of Knowing Better

Saalbach¹,

Schalk²

2011

Front. Psychology

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We examined the puzzling research findings that when extending novel nouns, preschoolers rely on shape similarity (rather than categorical relations) while in other task contexts (e.g., property induction) they rely on categorical relations. Taking into account research on children’s word learning, categorization, and inductive inference we assume that preschoolers have both a shape-based and a category-based word extension strategy available and can switch between these two depending on which information is easily available. To this end, we tested preschoolers on two versions of a novel-noun label extension task. First, we paralleled the standard extension task commonly used by previous research. In this case, as expected, preschoolers predominantly selected same-shape items. Second, we supported preschoolers’ retrieval of item-related information from memory by asking them simple questions about each item prior to the label extension task. Here, they switched to a category-based strategy, thus, predominantly selecting same-category items. Finally, we revealed that this shape-to-category shift is specific to the word learning context as we did not find it in a non-lexical classification task. These findings support our assumption that preschoolers’ decision about word extension change in accordance with the availability of information (from task context or by memory retrieval). We conclude by suggesting that preschoolers’ noun extensions can be conceptualized within the framework of heuristic decision-making. This provides an ecologically plausible processing account with respect to which information is selected and how this information is integrated to act as a guideline for decision-making when novel words have to be generalized.

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“…Novel objects are depicted in Figure 3 and consisted of fifteen toys from three categories not familiar to 2-year-old children. Novel exemplars from a given category shared basic shape but differed in overall number of shared features, based on evidence that preschool children can differentiate shape components in 3D objects (or "geons" [27,28]) and categorise solid objects on the basis of shared shape [29,30,22]. Thus, within each novel category, exemplars shared more or fewer perceptual features (geons, colour) with other exemplars of that category.…”

Section: Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing a Dynamic Neural Field Model of Children's Category Labelling

Twomey¹,

Horst²

2013

Computational Models of Cognitive Processes

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Recently, Dynamic Neural Field models have shed light on the flexible and dynamic processes underlying young children's emergent categorisation and word learning (DNF; e.g., Spencer & Schöner [1]). DNF models are a distinct class of neural network in which perceptual features can be represented topologically and time continuously, complementing existing connectionist models of cognitive development by building category representations that are available for inspection at any given stage in learning. Recent research in infant categorization and word learning has demonstrated that young children's ability to learn and generalise labels for novel object categories is profoundly affected by the perceptual variability of the to-be-learned category. We have captured these data in a DNF model of children's category label learning. Given a known vocabulary, our model exploits mutual exclusivity via simple associative processes to map novel labels to novel categories, and is able to retain and generalize these newlyformed mappings. The model was used to generate the testable prediction that children's generalizations of novel category labels should be contingent on the number and closeness of objects' perceptual neighbours. We present a replication of this prediction, via an empirical study with 30-month-old children. In line with the model, children were only able to generalize novel words to completely novel objects when those objects were central to the just-encountered category, rather than peripheral. This empirical replication demonstrates the predictive validity of DNF models when applied to cognitive development. Further, the data suggest that children's ability to categorise and learn labels is not a conceptually-based, stepwise phenomenon, but rather a graded, emergent process. As such, these data add weight to associative, dynamic systems approaches to understanding language learning, categorisation, and cognition more generally.

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Knowledge embedded in process: the self‐organization of skilled noun learning

Cited by 59 publications

References 75 publications

Preschool Children's Multimodal Word Learning

Preschool Children's Multimodal Word Learning

Preschoolers? Novel Noun Extensions: Shape in Spite of Knowing Better

Testing a Dynamic Neural Field Model of Children's Category Labelling

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