The Right Thing at the Right Time: Why Ostensive Naming Facilitates Word Learning

The current study examines how focusing children’s attention immediately after fast mapping improves their ability to retain novel names. Previous research suggests that young children can only retain novel names presented via referent selection if ostensive naming is provided and that such explicit naming works by increasing children’s attention to the target and decreasing their attention to the competitor objects (Horst and Samuelson, 2008). This explanation of the function of ostensive naming after referent selection trials was tested by drawing 24-month-old children’s attention to the target either by illuminating the target, covering the competitors, or both. A control group was given a social pragmatic cue (pointing). Children given social pragmatic cue support did not demonstrate retention. However, children demonstrated retention if the target object was illuminated, and also when it was illuminated and the competitors simultaneously dampened. This suggests that drawing children’s attention to the target object in a manner that helps focus children’s attention is critical for word learning via referent selection. Directing attention away from competitors while also directing attention toward a target also aids in the retention of novel words

Learning what to remember: vocabulary knowledge and children’s memory for object names and features

Although young children can map a novel name to a novel object, it remains unclear what they actually remember about objects when they initially make such a name-object association. In the current study we investigated 1) what children remembered after they were initially introduced to name-object associations and 2) how their vocabulary size and vocabulary structure influenced what they remembered. As a group, children had difficulty remembering each of the features of the original novel objects. Further analyses revealed that differences in vocabulary structure predicted children’s ability to remember object features. Specifically, children who produced many names for categories organized by similarity in shape (e.g., ball, cup) had the best memory for newly-learned objects’ features—especially their shapes. In addition, the more features children remembered, the more likely they were to retain the newly-learned name-object associations. Vocabulary size, however, was not predictive of children’s feature memory or retention. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that children’s existing vocabulary structure, rather than simply vocabulary size, influences what they attend to when encountering a new object and subsequently their ability to remember new name-object associations

Testing a word is not a test of word learning

Although vocabulary acquisition requires children learn names for multiple things, many investigations of word learning mechanisms teach children the name for only one of the objects presented. This is problematic because it is unclear whether children's performance reflects recall of the correct name-object association or simply selection of the only object that was singled out by being the only object named. Children introduced to one novel name may perform at ceiling as they are not required to discriminate on the basis of the name per se, and appear to rapidly learn words following minimal exposure to a single word. We introduced children to four novel objects. For half the children, only one of the objects was named and for the other children, all four objects were named. Only children introduced to one word reliably selected the target object at test. This demonstration highlights the over-simplicity of one-word learning paradigms and the need for a shift in word learning paradigms where more than one word is taught to ensure children disambiguate objects on the basis of their names rather than their degree of salience

Prior exposure and toddlers’ sleep-related memory for novel words

Children can easily link a novel word to a novel, unnamed object—something referred to as fast mapping. Despite the ease and speed with which children do this, their memories for novel fast-mapped words can be poor unless they receive memory supports such as further exposure to the words or sleep. Axelsson, Swinton, Winiger, and Horst (2018) found that 2.5-year-old children who napped after fast mapping had better retention of novel words than children who did not nap. Retention declined for those who did not nap. The children received no memory supports and determined the word-object mappings independently. Previous studies report enhanced memories after sleeping in children and adults, but the napping children’s retention in the Axelsson et al. study remained steady across time. We report a follow-up investigation where memory supports are provided after fast mapping to test whether memories would be enhanced following napping. Children’s retention of novel words improved and remained greater than chance; however, there was no nap effect with no significant difference between the children who napped and those who did not. These findings suggest that when memory supports are provided, retention improves, and the word–object mappings remain stable over time. When memory traces are weak and labile, such as after fast mapping, without further memory supports, sleeping soon after helps stabilise and prevent decay of word–object mappings

Infants perceive human point-light displays as solid forms

While five-month-old infants show orientation-specific sensitivity to changes in the motion and occlusion patterns of human point-light displays, it is not known whether infants are capable of binding a human representation to these displays. Furthermore, it has been suggested that infants do not encode the same physical properties for humans and material objects. To explore these issues we tested whether infants would selectively apply the principle of solidity to upright human displays. In the first experiment infants aged six and nine months were repeatedly shown a human point-light display walking across a computer screen up to ten times or until habituated. Next, they were repeatedly shown the walking display passing behind an in-depth representation of a table, and finally they were shown the human display appearing to pass through the table top in violation of the solidity of the hidden human form. Both six- and nine-month-old infants showed significantly greater recovery of attention to this final condition. This suggests that infants are able to bind a solid vertical form to human motion. In two further control experiments we presented displays that contained similar patterns of motion but were not perceived by adults as human. Six- and nine-month-old infants did not show recovery of attention when a scrambled display or an inverted human display passed through the table. Thus, the binding of a solid human form to a display in infants only seems to occur for upright human motion. The paper considers the implications of these findings in relation to theories of infants’ developing conceptions of objects, humans and animals

Exploring early developmental changes in face scanning patterns during the perception of audiovisual mismatch of speech cues

Young infants are capable of integrating auditory and visual information and their speech perception can be influenced by visual cues, while 5-month-olds detect mismatch between mouth articulations and speech sounds. From 6 months of age, infants gradually shift their attention away from eyes and towards the mouth in articulating faces, potentially to benefit from intersensory redundancy of audiovisual (AV) cues. Using eye tracking, we investigated whether 6- to 9-month-olds showed a similar age-related increase of looking to the mouth, while observing congruent and/or redundant versus mismatched and non-redundant speech cues. Participants distinguished between congruent and incongruent AV cues as reflected by the amount of looking to the mouth. They showed an age-related increase in attention to the mouth, but only for non-redundant, mismatched AV speech cues. Our results highlight the role of intersensory redundancy and audiovisual mismatch mechanisms in facilitating the development of speech processing in infants under 12 months of age

Socioeconomic status and functional brain development - associations in early infancy

Socioeconomic status (SES) impacts on both structural and functional brain development in childhood, but how early its effects can be demonstrated is unknown. In this study we measured resting baseline EEG activity in the gamma frequency range in awake 6–9-month-olds from areas of East London with high socioeconomic deprivation. Between-subject comparisons of infants from low- and high-income families revealed significantly lower frontal gamma power in infants from low-income homes. Similar power differences were found when comparing infants according to maternal occupation, with lower occupational status groups yielding lower power. Infant sleep, maternal education, length of gestation, and birth weight, as well as smoke exposure and bilingualism, did not explain these differences. Our results show that the effects of socioeconomic disparities on brain activity can already be detected in early infancy, potentially pointing to very early risk for language and attention difficulties. This is the first study to reveal region-selective differences in functional brain development associated with early infancy in low-income families

"Are you available for the next 18 months?" - methods and aims of a longitudinal birth cohort study investigating a universal developmental surveillance program: the ‘Watch Me Grow’ study

BACKGROUND Universal developmental surveillance programs aimed at early identification and targeted early intervention significantly improve short- and long-term outcomes in children at risk of developmental disorders. However, a significant challenge remains in providing sufficiently rigorous research and robust evidence to inform policy and service delivery. This paper describes the methods of the 'Watch Me Grow' study that aims to maximise accurate early detection of children with developmental disorders through a partnership formed between policy makers, service providers and researchers. METHODS/DESIGN A mixed methods study design was developed consisting of: (1) a qualitative study of parents and health service providers to investigate barriers and enablers of developmental surveillance; (2) recruitment of a birth cohort and their longitudinal follow-up to 18 months of age to: a) assess risk factors for not accessing existing developmental surveillance programs and b) estimate the prevalence of children identified with developmental risk; (3) comparison of surveillance outcomes with a reference standard at 18 months of age to assess the diagnostic test accuracy of existing and alternative developmental surveillance tools; and (4) comparison of developmental surveillance models to inform policy recommendations. Data linkage will be used to determine the uptake and representativeness of the study participant group versus non-participants. DISCUSSION The Watch Me Grow study is expected to provide a collaborative opportunity to enhance universal developmental surveillance for early accurate identification of developmental risk. This will also provide quality evidence about identification of developmental risk and access to services to be embedded in existing practice with linkages to policy development.This study (APP 1013690) was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, through a partnership grant with the NSW Kids and Families (NSW Health) and in-kind support from University of New South Wales, La Trobe University, South Western Sydney Local Health District and Sydney Children’s Hospital Network

Near or far: the effect of spatial distance and vocabulary knowledge on word learning

The current study investigated the role of spatial distance in word learning. Two-year-old children saw three novel objects named while the objects were either in close proximity to each other or spatially separated. Children were then tested on their retention for the name-object associations. Keeping the objects spatially separated from each other during naming was associated with increased retention for children with larger vocabularies. Children with a lower vocabulary size demonstrated better retention if they saw objects in close proximity to each other during naming. This demonstrates that keeping a clear view of objects during naming improves word learning for children who have already learned many words, but keeping objects within close proximal range is better for children at earlier stages of vocabulary acquisition. The effect of distance is therefore not equal across varying vocabulary sizes. The influences of visual crowding, cognitive load, and vocabulary size on word learning are discussed

Typing Late Prehistoric Cows and Bulls—Osteology and Genetics of Cattle at the Eketorp Ringfort on the Öland Island in Sweden

Human management of livestock and the presence of different breeds have been discussed in archaeozoology and animal breeding. Traditionally osteometrics has been the main tool in addressing these questions. We combine osteometrics with molecular sex identifications of 104 of 340 morphometrically analysed bones in order to investigate the use of cattle at the Eketorp ringfort on the Öland island in Sweden. The fort is dated to 300–1220/50 A.D., revealing three different building phases. In order to investigate specific patterns and shifts through time in the use of cattle the genetic data is evaluated in relation to osteometric patterns and occurrence of pathologies on cattle metapodia. Males were genotyped for a Y-chromosomal SNP in UTY19 that separates the two major haplogroups, Y1 and Y2, in taurine cattle. A subset of the samples were also genotyped for one SNP involved in coat coloration (MC1R), one SNP putatively involved in resistance to cattle plague (TLR4), and one SNP in intron 5 of the IGF-1 gene that has been associated to size and reproduction