Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 22, 2025

Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism
Published on: October 3, 2018
The Role of Vocabulary Skills in a Storybook-Based Intervention to Stimulate Emotion Comprehension in Preschoolers
Mylène Michaud1, Annie Roy-Charland1, Jacques Richard1
1Université de Moncton, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.
Abstract:
Understanding emotions is an important predictor of children's mental health and school adjustment. However, interventions to improve this skill are not always accessible to all children. In 2019, Roy, Dénommée, and Quenneville developed stories with content specifically designed to 'teach' about emotions. Because it is a literacy-oriented intervention, it is possible that vocabulary may play a role in learning. This project explored the role of vocabulary in understanding emotion in preschool children and its learning. Forty-three preschoolers (19 control and 24 experimental) were evaluated on vocabulary skills and emotion comprehension. For multiple components, results showed an effect of time of measure, regardless of group. However, the addition of receptive vocabulary as a covariate made this effect non-significant. Results revealed that the stories were an effective strategy in promoting emotion comprehension for Components Belief and Reminder; two skills that are in the process of development in this age group. Furthermore, vocabulary skills did not impact the interaction for Belief for post-test gains and, for Reminder, while emotional vocabulary skills impacted the interaction at post-test, receptive vocabulary did not.
Related Concept Videos
Coping Strategies: Emotion Focused
Socioemotional Development during Infancy
Primary Temperament Types
Labeling Emotion
Language Development
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
Emotional Expression
Universal Facial Expressions
Psychologist Paul Ekman identified seven basic...
Non-Verbal Cues

