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Updated: Aug 6, 2026
06:34
Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
Published on: July 1, 2015
Emotional consistency as a signal for word learning in early development
Wei Fang1, Christine E Potter2, Naiqi G Xiao1
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|July 24, 2026
Summary
Toddlers learn new words better from inconsistent emotional signals, not predictable ones. Emotional variability may enhance learning by increasing attention and cognitive processing in young children.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Social Neuroscience
Background:
- Early learning relies on social cues, with a focus on emotional valence.
- The impact of dynamic emotional properties, like consistency, on learning is understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if informant emotional consistency affects toddlers' novel word learning.
- To explore the role of emotional variability versus consistency in social learning.
Main Methods:
- Toddlers (18-36 months) were exposed to consistent and inconsistent emotional informants.
- Novel word learning was assessed using the looking-while-listening paradigm.
- Caregiver reports on family emotional expressiveness were collected.
Main Results:
- Toddlers learned words from the inconsistent informant but not the consistent one.
- Emotional inconsistency led to a more robust word recognition trajectory.
- Higher family emotional expressiveness correlated with better learning from the inconsistent informant.
Conclusions:
- Informant predictability does not uniformly facilitate social learning; emotional variability can be a key cue.
- Emotional variability may enhance learning by increasing salience and cognitive processing.
- Toddlers' sensitivity to dynamic emotional cues might be shaped by their everyday emotional environments.
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