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Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization
Published on: April 19, 2017
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Bottom-up processes dominate early word recognition in toddlers
Janette Chow1, Armando Q Angulo-Chavira2, Marlene Spangenberg1
1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Anna Watts Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK.
Cognition
|July 10, 2022
Summary
Toddlers and adults show phonological onset preference in visual world tasks. Adults rely more on semantic cues, while toddlers prioritize phonological information, especially with limited preview time.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Developmental Psychology
- Psycholinguistics
Background:
- The phonological onset preference effect, observed in adults using the visual world task, demonstrates attention to phonologically-related objects.
- This effect is hypothesized to rely on the activation of phonological codes from visual stimuli, supporting the phonological mapping hypothesis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if the phonological onset preference effect in toddlers is influenced by the preview time available for picture stimuli.
- To compare how toddlers and adults utilize phonological and semantic information in referent selection during visual world tasks.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the visual world task with varying picture preview times.
- Compared the eye-gaze patterns of toddlers and adults when presented with spoken words and visual stimuli.
Main Results:
- Both toddlers and adults exhibited an early phonological onset preference, even with short preview times.
- Adults' phonological onset preference was diminished by semantic competitors but reinstated upon their removal.
- Toddlers demonstrated a stronger reliance on bottom-up phonological information, whereas adults leaned towards top-down semantic information.
Conclusions:
- Toddlers are more driven by phonological cues in referent selection compared to adults.
- Adults' attention is more influenced by semantic information, particularly when preview time is limited.
- In short-preview conditions, the phonological onset preference effect is influenced by visual-semantic mapping, which is susceptible to top-down processing.
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