From cat to dog: Investigating organisation in the infant lexicon

<p>Do infants learn their early words in isolation? Or do they integrate new words into an inter-connected semantic system? Between the ages of one and two, infants develop a prodigious word-learning ability (P. Bloom, 2002; Fenson <em>et al.</em>, 1994; Hamilton <em>et al.&l...

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Detaylı Bibliyografya
Yazar: Styles, S
Diğer Yazarlar: Plunkett, K
Materyal Türü: Tez
Dil:English
Baskı/Yayın Bilgisi: 2009
Konular:
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author Styles, S
author2 Plunkett, K
author_facet Plunkett, K
Styles, S
author_sort Styles, S
collection OXFORD
description <p>Do infants learn their early words in isolation? Or do they integrate new words into an inter-connected semantic system? Between the ages of one and two, infants develop a prodigious word-learning ability (P. Bloom, 2002; Fenson <em>et al.</em>, 1994; Hamilton <em>et al.</em>, 2000). Little is known, however, about how and when infants integrate their accumulating word-knowledge into an adult-like lexical network – one sensitive to relationships such as association and semantic category organisation.</p> <p>For adults, context has a strong effect on the ease and speed of linguistic processing, and on behavioural responses to language. In lexical priming studies, both visual and auditory context are known to influence the speed of lexical processing (Antos, 1979; Meyer &amp; Schvaneveldt, 1971; Radeau, 1983) and ambiguity resolution (Swinney, 1979), as well as guide predictive looks to contextually relevant areas of a complex scene (Huettig &amp; McQueen, 2007; Kamide <em>et al.</em>, 2001). And while priming studies have been conducted with children (Betjemann &amp; Keenan, 2008; Duncan &amp; Kellas, 1983; Hartfield &amp; Conture, 2006; Hashimoto <em>et al.</em>, 2007; McCauley <em>et al.</em>, 1976; Nation &amp; Snowling, 1999; Radeau, 1983; Schvaneveldt <em>et al.</em>, 1977) and toddlers (Krackow &amp; Gordon, 1998), the currently available methods are not applicable below the age of three.</p> <p>This thesis presents a body of research which combines two experimental paradigms into a single new method which allows investigation of relationships within the developing infant lexicon. Over a series of experiments, this thesis develops a version of the infant-friendly Inter-modal Preferential Looking (IPL) task within the lexical priming paradigm. The method combines fine-grained temporal sensitivity with an intuitive, infant-friendly task. Priming effects were observed during lexical access for children two years-of-age and older, providing a promising new direction for investigations into the development of semantic organisation during development.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:3ce56d6c-c949-47b2-8c89-f5a03bc90e992024-12-07T15:37:25ZFrom cat to dog: Investigating organisation in the infant lexiconThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:3ce56d6c-c949-47b2-8c89-f5a03bc90e99Psychology, ExperimentalEnglishORA Deposit2009Styles, SPlunkett, K<p>Do infants learn their early words in isolation? Or do they integrate new words into an inter-connected semantic system? Between the ages of one and two, infants develop a prodigious word-learning ability (P. Bloom, 2002; Fenson <em>et al.</em>, 1994; Hamilton <em>et al.</em>, 2000). Little is known, however, about how and when infants integrate their accumulating word-knowledge into an adult-like lexical network – one sensitive to relationships such as association and semantic category organisation.</p> <p>For adults, context has a strong effect on the ease and speed of linguistic processing, and on behavioural responses to language. In lexical priming studies, both visual and auditory context are known to influence the speed of lexical processing (Antos, 1979; Meyer &amp; Schvaneveldt, 1971; Radeau, 1983) and ambiguity resolution (Swinney, 1979), as well as guide predictive looks to contextually relevant areas of a complex scene (Huettig &amp; McQueen, 2007; Kamide <em>et al.</em>, 2001). And while priming studies have been conducted with children (Betjemann &amp; Keenan, 2008; Duncan &amp; Kellas, 1983; Hartfield &amp; Conture, 2006; Hashimoto <em>et al.</em>, 2007; McCauley <em>et al.</em>, 1976; Nation &amp; Snowling, 1999; Radeau, 1983; Schvaneveldt <em>et al.</em>, 1977) and toddlers (Krackow &amp; Gordon, 1998), the currently available methods are not applicable below the age of three.</p> <p>This thesis presents a body of research which combines two experimental paradigms into a single new method which allows investigation of relationships within the developing infant lexicon. Over a series of experiments, this thesis develops a version of the infant-friendly Inter-modal Preferential Looking (IPL) task within the lexical priming paradigm. The method combines fine-grained temporal sensitivity with an intuitive, infant-friendly task. Priming effects were observed during lexical access for children two years-of-age and older, providing a promising new direction for investigations into the development of semantic organisation during development.</p>
spellingShingle Psychology, Experimental
Styles, S
From cat to dog: Investigating organisation in the infant lexicon
title From cat to dog: Investigating organisation in the infant lexicon
title_full From cat to dog: Investigating organisation in the infant lexicon
title_fullStr From cat to dog: Investigating organisation in the infant lexicon
title_full_unstemmed From cat to dog: Investigating organisation in the infant lexicon
title_short From cat to dog: Investigating organisation in the infant lexicon
title_sort from cat to dog investigating organisation in the infant lexicon
topic Psychology, Experimental
work_keys_str_mv AT styless fromcattodoginvestigatingorganisationintheinfantlexicon