Friederici, A.

Friedrich, M.

Klann-Delius, G.

Marinos, D.

Schmitz, M.

English

MPG.PuRe

Discussion14-month-olds (n=30) 26-month-olds (n=25) Neutral Prosody 2Amarinos@cbs.mpg.deWord learning in different age groups: Does emotional prosody have an effect on fast mapping?Dana Marinos1, Manuela Friedrich2, Michaela Schmitz2, Gisela Klann-Delius2 & Angela D. Friederici11 Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany;    2 Freie Universität Berlin, Cluster of Excellence “Languages of Emotion”, GermanyIntroduction MethodsResults & Discussion1. Does fast mapping benefit from affective prosody?2. Do the neurophysiological correlates of word learning differ between words presented with either neutral or positive affective prosody?To learn a new word requires the ability to map a novel word onto a novel referent. Between 12 and 14 month, children start to accomplish this process after a few presentations. Around the age of 18 months, children use this faculty to enlarge their lexicon up to 10 words per day (vocabulary spurt). To date, no study has answered the question to which extent emotional factors support fast mapping and whether it varies during early development (e.g., Doan, 2009).In the present study, we aim to answer the following questions using event related potentials (ERP) and a behavioural task:During the ERP training phase 14- and 26-month-olds were repeatedly presented with pairs of 32 novel objects and 32 novel words. Half the stimuli occurred in a constant pairing condition, in which object-word mappings can be learned, and half occurred in a rotated pairing condi-tion, in which the mappings cannot be learned (Figure 1).In both conditions, half the words were spoken with emotionally positive and half with neutral intonation. Each stimulus was repeated eight times.The training phase was followed by a test phase to evaluate word learning at the behavioural level. Children were shown four previously presented objects, which were selected from the same prosodic condition (two from the rotated condition, one from the constant condition, and the target object) and they had to choose one by name.ConclusionThe ERP results show different patterns for neutral and positive spoken words:Neutral condition: a long lasting parietal negativity, which decreases during the 5th to 8th presentation (N400 priming effect) in both age groups (Figure 2a, 3a).Positive condition: a fronto-central negativity (200-500ms) in 26-month-olds (Figure 3b).The behavioural results show no differences between the learning of neutrally and positively spoken words for both age groups. Independent of the emotional prosody, 26-month-olds chose the target object sig-nificantly more often than any other object (Figure 5). In contrast, 14-month-olds show no learning effects. They identified the target object as often as the dis-tractors in both emotional conditions (Figure 4).In view of these findings two ERP-learning-effects seem to emerge:N400 priming effect: Indexes that toddlers’ expec-tation of a word meaning facilitates semantic processing of a word shortly after initial learning (Friedrich & Friederici, 2008). This effect is present independent of toddlers’ behaviour. Fronto-central negativity: Indexes learning effects for words with positive intonation. This effect is present only in 26-month-olds and is in accordance with the toddlers’ behaviour.Positive Prosody B?? ?? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ??0.4 1.2−1010sμV?? ?? ???? ?? ??314-month-olds (n=32) 26-month-olds (n=25) 4 5Neutral Prosody A?? ?? ???? ?? ??Positive Prosody B?? ?? ???? ?? ??Both age groups show neurophysiological cor-relates of lexical-semantic processing. However, only in 26-month-olds, this is reflected also in the behavioural results. Additionally, it seems that the N400-priming effect represents a de-fault processing for neutrally spoken words, whereas the fronto-central negativity is de-pendent on emotionality and thereby in accor-dance with behaviour. ReferencesDoan, S.N. (2009). The role of emotion in word learning. Early Child Development and Care, 1-14. IFirst Article. DOI: 10.1080/03004430902726479Friedrich, M. & Friederici, A.D. (2008). Neurophysiological correlates of online word learning in 14-month-old infants. NeuroReport, 19 (18) 1757-1761.Constant PairingRotated Pairing5th to 8th Presentation:Positive Prosody Neutral ProsodyRotated PairingFeroeinFeroFeroFeroFeroFeroFeroFeroConstant PairingeinTüderTüderTüderTüderTüderTüderTüderTüderRotated PairingConstant PairingeinLekenLekenLekenLekenLekenLekenLekenLekeneinDifoDifoDifoDifoDifoDifoDifoDifo10 1.0 2.0 3.0 Positive intonation Neutral intonation Target Distractor const. Distractor rot. No reaction 0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 Positive intonation Neutral intonation Target Distractor const. Distractor rot. No reaction ****

Word learning in different age groups: Does emotional prosody have an effect on fast mapping?

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

MPG.PuRe