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Semantic priming supports infants’ ability to learn names of unseen objects
Human language permits us to call to mind objects, events, and ideas that we cannot witness directly. This capacity rests upon abstract verbal reference: the appreciation that words are linked to mental representations that can be established, retrieved and modified, even when the entities to which...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Public Library of Science
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7790528/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33412565 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244968 |
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author | Luchkina, Elena Waxman, Sandra R. |
author_facet | Luchkina, Elena Waxman, Sandra R. |
author_sort | Luchkina, Elena |
collection | PubMed |
description | Human language permits us to call to mind objects, events, and ideas that we cannot witness directly. This capacity rests upon abstract verbal reference: the appreciation that words are linked to mental representations that can be established, retrieved and modified, even when the entities to which a word refers is perceptually unavailable. Although establishing verbal reference is a pivotal achievement, questions concerning its developmental origins remain. To address this gap, we investigate infants’ ability to establish a representation of an object, hidden from view, from language input alone. In two experiments, 15-month-olds (N = 72) and 12-month-olds (N = 72) watch as an actor names three familiar, visible objects; she then provides a novel name for a fourth, hidden fully from infants’ view. In the Semantic Priming condition, the visible familiar objects all belong to the same semantic neighborhood (e.g., apple, banana, orange). In the No Priming condition, the objects are drawn from different semantic neighborhoods (e.g., apple, shoe, car). At test infants view two objects. If infants can use the naming information alone to identify the likely referent, then infants in the Semantic Priming, but not in the No Priming condition, will successfully infer the referent of the fourth (hidden) object. Brief summary of results here. Implications for the development of abstract verbal reference will be discussed. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7790528 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-77905282021-01-27 Semantic priming supports infants’ ability to learn names of unseen objects Luchkina, Elena Waxman, Sandra R. PLoS One Registered Report Protocol Human language permits us to call to mind objects, events, and ideas that we cannot witness directly. This capacity rests upon abstract verbal reference: the appreciation that words are linked to mental representations that can be established, retrieved and modified, even when the entities to which a word refers is perceptually unavailable. Although establishing verbal reference is a pivotal achievement, questions concerning its developmental origins remain. To address this gap, we investigate infants’ ability to establish a representation of an object, hidden from view, from language input alone. In two experiments, 15-month-olds (N = 72) and 12-month-olds (N = 72) watch as an actor names three familiar, visible objects; she then provides a novel name for a fourth, hidden fully from infants’ view. In the Semantic Priming condition, the visible familiar objects all belong to the same semantic neighborhood (e.g., apple, banana, orange). In the No Priming condition, the objects are drawn from different semantic neighborhoods (e.g., apple, shoe, car). At test infants view two objects. If infants can use the naming information alone to identify the likely referent, then infants in the Semantic Priming, but not in the No Priming condition, will successfully infer the referent of the fourth (hidden) object. Brief summary of results here. Implications for the development of abstract verbal reference will be discussed. Public Library of Science 2021-01-07 /pmc/articles/PMC7790528/ /pubmed/33412565 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244968 Text en © 2021 Luchkina, Waxman http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Registered Report Protocol Luchkina, Elena Waxman, Sandra R. Semantic priming supports infants’ ability to learn names of unseen objects |
title | Semantic priming supports infants’ ability to learn names of unseen objects |
title_full | Semantic priming supports infants’ ability to learn names of unseen objects |
title_fullStr | Semantic priming supports infants’ ability to learn names of unseen objects |
title_full_unstemmed | Semantic priming supports infants’ ability to learn names of unseen objects |
title_short | Semantic priming supports infants’ ability to learn names of unseen objects |
title_sort | semantic priming supports infants’ ability to learn names of unseen objects |
topic | Registered Report Protocol |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7790528/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33412565 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244968 |
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