1,721,045 research outputs found
Goal saliency and verbal information influence the imitation of movements and goals in 20-to 22-month-old toddlers
No full texthttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaf
Better in sync: Temporal dynamics explain multisensory word‐action‐object learning in early development
No full textAbstract
We investigated the temporal impact of multisensory settings on children's learning of word‐object and action‐object associations at 1‐ and 2‐years of age. Specifically, we examined whether the temporal alignment of words and actions influenced the acquisition of novel word‐action‐object associations. We used a preferential looking and violation of expectation task in which infants and young children were first presented with two distinct word‐object and action‐object pairings either in a synchronous (overlapping in time) or sequential manner (one after the other). Findings revealed that 2‐year‐olds recognized both, action‐object and word‐object associations when they first saw the word‐action‐object combinations synchronously, but not sequentially, as evidenced by looking behavior. 1‐year‐olds did not show evidence for recognition for either of the word‐object and action‐object pairs, regardless of the initial temporal alignment of these cues. To control for individual differences, we explored factors that might influence associative learning based on parental reports of 1‐ and 2‐year‐olds development, however, developmental measures did not explain word‐action‐object associative learning in either group. We discuss that while young children may benefit from the temporal alignment of multisensory cues as it enables them to actively engage with the multisensory content in real‐time, infants may have been overwhelmed by the complexity of this input
The impact of goal saliency and verbal information on selective imitation in 16‐ to 18‐month‐olds
No full textAbstract This study aimed to assess which action component (movement or goal) infants prioritize in their imitation behavior when they get information about its relevance from two important sources: perceptual goal saliency and experimenter's verbal information. 16‐ to 18‐month‐olds ( N = 72) observed how the experimenter moved a toy mouse with a hopping or sliding movement onto one of two empty spaces (low goal saliency) or 2D circles (medium saliency), or inside one of two 3D houses (high saliency). Before the demonstration, the experimenter verbally announced the movement style or the goal. Results showed that verbal action descriptions did not influence infants' imitation. However, matching previous findings, infants imitated the goal more often than the movement in the high‐saliency condition, and the movement more often than the goal in the low‐saliency condition. Moreover, in the novel medium‐saliency condition, infants imitated both components equally often. Thus, selective imitation varied as a function of perceptual goal saliency, but not of verbal cues. This suggests that perceptual features can enhance infants' bottom‐up processing and imitation of action components, while the impact of top‐down processes based on verbal cues may vary depending on task characteristics and infants' verbal abilities, inducing a need for further research
Word-object and action-object learning in a unimodal context during early childhood
No full textWord-object and action-object learning in children aged 30 to 48 months appears to develop at a similar time scale and adheres to similar attentional constraints. However, children below 36 months show different patterns of learning word-object and action-object associations when this information is presented in a bimodal context (Eiteljoerge et al., 2019b). Here, we investigated 12- and 24-month-olds’ word-object and action-object learning when this information is presented in a unimodal context. Forty 12- and 24-month-olds were presented with two novel objects that were either first associated with a novel label (word learning task) and then later with a novel action (action learning task) or vice versa. In subsequent yoked test phases, children either heard one of the novel labels or saw a hand performing one of the actions presented with the two objects on screen while we measured their target looking. Generalized linear mixed models indicate that 12-month-olds learned action-object associations but not word-object associations and 24-month-olds learned neither word- nor action-object associations. These results extend previous findings (Eiteljoerge et al., 2019b) and, together, suggest that children appear to learn action-object associations early in development while struggling with learning word-object associations in certain contexts until 2 years of age
Tool mastering today – an interdisciplinary perspective
No full textTools have coined human life, living conditions, and culture. Recognizing the cognitive architecture underlying tool use would allow us to comprehend its evolution, development, and physiological basis. However, the cognitive underpinnings of tool mastering remain little understood in spite of long-time research in neuroscientific, psychological, behavioral and technological fields. Moreover, the recent transition of tool use to the digital domain poses new challenges for explaining the underlying processes. In this interdisciplinary review, we propose three building blocks of tool mastering: (A) perceptual and motor abilities integrate to tool manipulation knowledge, (B) perceptual and cognitive abilities to functional tool knowledge, and (C) motor and cognitive abilities to means-end knowledge about tool use. This framework allows for integrating and structuring research findings and theoretical assumptions regarding the functional architecture of tool mastering via behavior in humans and non-human primates, brain networks, as well as computational and robotic models. An interdisciplinary perspective also helps to identify open questions and to inspire innovative research approaches. The framework can be applied to studies on the transition from classical to modern, non-mechanical tools and from analogue to digital user-tool interactions in virtual reality, which come with increased functional opacity and sensorimotor decoupling between tool user, tool, and target. By working towards an integrative theory on the cognitive architecture of the use of tools and technological assistants, this review aims at stimulating future interdisciplinary research avenues
Words and arbitrary actions in early object categorization: weak evidence for a word advantage
No full textBoth words and gestures have been shown to influence object categorization, often even overriding perceptual similarities to cue category membership. However, gestures are often meaningful to infants while words are arbitrarily related to an object they refer to, more similar to arbitrary actions that can be performed on objects. In this study, we examine how words and arbitrary actions shape category formation. Across three conditions (word cue, action cue, word–action cue), we presented infants (N = 90) with eight videos of single-category objects which vary in colour and other perceptual features. The objects were either accompanied by a word and/or an action that is being performed on the object. Infants in the word and action condition showed a decrease in looking over the course of the familiarization phase indicating habituation to the category, but infants in the word–action condition did not. At test, infants saw a novel object of the just-learned category and a novel object from another category side-by-side on the screen. There was some evidence for an advantage for words in shaping early object categorization, although we note that this was not robust across analyses
The impact of verbal cues on 14- and 24-month-olds' visual action anticipation
No full textWhen infants and caregivers interact with each other, a lot of information in the language and the action domain is shared between them. Past research shows that from the first year of life, infants' abilities to process language and action information develop significantly. However, a lot of the research focussed on the language and the action domain in isolation, without investigating in which ways these two domains might inform each other. A growing body of research suggests that verbal information can hinder or facilitate childrens' goal anticipation, but the mechanisms involved are not yet completely understood. The current study investigated the impact of different verbal information in the form of nouns, verbs, or unspecific information, on 14- and 24- month-olds' goal anticipation during observation of a human grasping action. There was no differential effect of language cues on goal anticipation, and also no hindering or facilitating effect could be found in either age group. The results are discussed with respect to current literature and address the need of further fine-grained analyses of the impact of language cues on early action processing
Semantic consistency of actions influences young children’s word learning
No full textCommunication with young children is often multimodal in nature, involving, for example, language and actions. This multimodal input supports language learning when it highlights the connection of word and object. But multimodal input can also guide the child’s attention away from the language input, and thus, exacerbate learning. In the current study, we therefore examined the influence of semantic consistency of actions on early word learning. Children (18 months, 30 months, 36 - 48 months) and adults were presented with two novel objects and their novel labels while different actions were performed on these objects, such that the pairing of actions and objects was either consistent (Consistent group) or varied across trials (Inconsistent group). At test, participants saw both objects and heard one of the labels to examine participants’ target looking upon hearing its label. Only 3- to 4-year-olds and adults learned word-object associations with the children benefiting from consistent and adults from the inconsistent action presentations. Thus, consistency in the multimodal input facilitated word learning in early childhood. In terms of a dynamic systems account of word learning, our study shows how multimodal learning settings interact with the child’s perceptual abilities, and how the interaction can therefore shape the learning experience
Consistency of co-occurring actions influences young children’s word learning
No full textCommunication with young children is often multimodal in nature, involving, for example, language and actions. The simultaneous presentation of information from both domains may boost language learning by highlighting the connection between an object and a word, owing to temporal overlap in the presentation of multimodal input. However, the overlap is not merely temporal but can also covary in the extent to which particular actions co-occur with particular words and objects, e.g. carers typically produce a hopping action when talking about rabbits and a snapping action for crocodiles. The frequency with which actions and words co-occurs in the presence of the referents of these words may also impact young children’s word learning. We, therefore, examined the extent to which consistency in the co-occurrence of particular actions and words impacted children’s learning of novel word–object associations. Children (18 months, 30 months and 36–48 months) and adults were presented with two novel objects and heard their novel labels while different actions were performed on these objects, such that the particular actions and word–object pairings always co-occurred (Consistent group) or varied across trials (Inconsistent group). At test, participants saw both objects and heard one of the labels to examine whether participants recognized the target object upon hearing its label. Growth curve models revealed that 18-month-olds did not learn words for objects in either condition, and 30-month-old and 36- to 48-month-old children learned words for objects only in the Consistent condition, in contrast to adults who learned words for objects independent of the actions presented. Thus, consistency in the multimodal input influenced word learning in early childhood but not in adulthood. In terms of a dynamic systems account of word learning, our study shows how multimodal learning settings interact with the child’s perceptual abilities to shape the learning experience
DGPs-Kommission „Studium und Lehre“ der DGPs. Die Lehre von heute ist die Forschung von morgen
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