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Krethlow, Giulia; Fargier, Raphaël; Laganaro, Marina – Cognitive Science, 2020
The lexical-semantic organization of the mental lexicon is bound to change across the lifespan. Nevertheless, the effects of lexical-semantic factors on word processing are usually based on studies enrolling young adult cohorts. The current study aims to investigate to what extent age-specific semantic organization predicts performance in…
Descriptors: Vocabulary Development, Semantics, Lexicology, Age Groups
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Donnelly, Seamus; Kidd, Evan – Cognitive Science, 2021
There is consensus that the adult lexicon exhibits lexical competition. In particular, substantial evidence demonstrates that words with more phonologically similar neighbors are recognized less efficiently than words with fewer neighbors. How and when these effects emerge in the child's lexicon is less clear. In the current paper, we build on…
Descriptors: Vocabulary Development, Language Acquisition, English, Task Analysis
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Divjak, Dagmar; Milin, Petar; Medimorec, Srdan; Borowski, Maciej – Cognitive Science, 2022
Although there is a broad consensus that both the procedural and declarative memory systems play a crucial role in language learning, use, and knowledge, the mapping between linguistic types and memory structures remains underspecified: by default, a dual-route mapping of language systems to memory systems is assumed, with declarative memory…
Descriptors: Memory, Grammar, Vocabulary Development, Language Processing
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Mulak, Karen E.; Vlach, Haley A.; Escudero, Paola – Cognitive Science, 2019
Cross-situational word learning (XSWL) tasks present multiple words and candidate referents within a learning trial such that word-referent pairings can be inferred only across trials. Adults encode fine phonological detail when two words and candidate referents are presented in each learning trial (2 × 2 scenario; Escudero, Mulak, & Vlach,…
Descriptors: Phonology, Vocabulary Development, Cognitive Mapping, Accuracy
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Sullivan, Jessica; Boucher, Juliana; Kiefer, Reina J.; Williams, Katherine; Barner, David – Cognitive Science, 2019
Word learning depends critically on the use of linguistic context to constrain the likely meanings of words. However, the mechanisms by which children infer word meaning from linguistic context are still poorly understood. In this study, we asked whether adults (n = 58) and 2- to 6-year-old children (n = 180) use discourse coherence relations…
Descriptors: Cues, Linguistic Theory, Discourse Analysis, Toddlers
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Perry, Lynn K.; Saffran, Jenny R. – Cognitive Science, 2017
When a toddler knows a word, what does she actually know? Many categories have multiple relevant properties; for example, shape "and" color are relevant to membership in the category "banana." How do toddlers prioritize these properties when recognizing familiar words, and are there systematic differences among children? In…
Descriptors: Individual Differences, Vocabulary Development, Toddlers, Color
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Malone, Stephanie A.; Kalashnikova, Marina; Davis, Erin M. – Cognitive Science, 2016
Adults reason by exclusivity to identify the meanings of novel words. However, it is debated whether, like children, they extend this strategy to disambiguate other referential expressions (e.g., facts about objects). To further inform this debate, this study tested 41 adults on four conditions of a disambiguation task: label/label, fact/fact,…
Descriptors: Vocabulary Development, Task Analysis, Ambiguity (Semantics), Adults
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Twomey, Katherine E.; Ma, Lizhi; Westermann, Gert – Cognitive Science, 2018
Variability is prevalent in early language acquisition, but, whether it supports or hinders learning is unclear; while target variability has been shown to facilitate word learning, variability in competitor items has been shown to make the task harder. Here, we tested whether background variability could boost learning in a referent selection…
Descriptors: Acoustics, Language Acquisition, Vocabulary Development, Behavior Change
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Janciauskas, Marius; Chang, Franklin – Cognitive Science, 2018
Language learning requires linguistic input, but several studies have found that knowledge of second language (L2) rules does not seem to improve with more language exposure (e.g., Johnson & Newport, 1989). One reason for this is that previous studies did not factor out variation due to the different rules tested. To examine this issue, we…
Descriptors: Linguistic Input, Second Language Learning, Age Differences, Syntax
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Vouloumanos, Athena; Curtin, Suzanne – Cognitive Science, 2014
Orienting biases for speech may provide a foundation for language development. Although human infants show a bias for listening to speech from birth, the relation of a speech bias to later language development has not been established. Here, we examine whether infants' attention to speech directly predicts expressive vocabulary. Infants…
Descriptors: Infants, Infant Behavior, Language Acquisition, Expressive Language