1,721,165 research outputs found
The limits of infants’ early word learning
Full text linkIn this series of experiments, we tested the limits of young infants’ word learning and generalization abilities in light of recent findings reporting sophisticated word learning abilities in the first year of life. Ten-month-old infants were trained with two word-object pairs and tested with either the same or different members of the corresponding categories. In Experiment 1, infants showed successful learning of the word-object associations, when trained and tested with a single exemplar from each category. In Experiment 2, infants were presented with multiple within-category items during training but failed to learn the word-object associations. In Experiment 3, infants were presented with a single exemplar from each category during training, and failed to generalize words to a new category exemplar. However, when infants were trained with items from perceptually and conceptually distinct categories in Experiment 4, they showed weak evidence for generalization of words to novel members of the corresponding categories. It is suggested that word learning in the first year begins as the formation of simple associations between words and objects that become enriched as experience with objects, words and categories accumulates across development
No Evidence for Curiosity‐Driven Information Selection Advantage in Infants’ Novel Word Learning
No full textABSTRACT The cognitive mechanisms and benefits of active learning in early child development are poorly understood. The current study investigated 20–23‐month‐old infants’ curiosity‐driven information selection in a novel word learning task, designed to identify any potential advantage for active learning over passive learning. In a gaze‐contingent eye‐tracking paradigm, infants in one condition were given the opportunity to structure their own information seeking to actively create word learning opportunities for themselves, while infants in two other conditions engaged in learning novel words passively. Infants’ learning of word‐object associations was compared across active and passive learning paradigms. The results indicate no advantage of active information selection on retention of novel words above and beyond passive learning, with infants across all conditions retaining novel words above chance. This study provides a crucial insight advancing our understanding of early word learning, and of the mechanisms and benefits of active, curiosity‐based learning in infants. Summary We investigated the effect of active, curiosity‐driven word learning, as compared to passive word learning, on infants’ label recognition. Infants’ self‐motivated information selection was tested using a novel word learning task in a gaze‐contingent eye‐tracking paradigm. Self‐motivated information selection had no effect on early word learning above and beyond passive learning, with infants across all conditions retaining novel words above chance. This provides novel insights into infants’ active and passive learning for language acquisition
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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