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Updated: Jan 19, 2026
Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)
Published on: June 12, 2017
Do children really acquire dense neighbourhoods?
Samuel David Jones1, Silke Brandt1
1Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
Abstract:
Children learn high phonological neighbourhood density words more easily than low phonological neighbourhood density words (Storkel, 2004). However, the strength of this effect relative to alternative predictors of word acquisition is unclear. We addressed this issue using communicative inventory data from 300 British English-speaking children aged 12 to 25 months. Using Bayesian regression, we modelled word understanding and production as a function of: (i) phonological neighbourhood density, (ii) frequency, (iii) length, (iv) babiness, (v) concreteness, (vi) valence, (vii) arousal, and (viii) dominance. Phonological neighbourhood density predicted word production but not word comprehension, and this effect was stronger in younger children.
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