Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2024 Aug;31(4):1650-1660. doi: 10.3758/s13423-023-02444-6. Epub 2024 Jan 16.
Cross-situational word learning (XSWL) - children's ability to learn words by tracking co-occurrence statistics of words and their referents over time - has been identified as a fundamental mechanism underlying lexical learning. However, it is unknown whether children can acquire new words when faced with variable input in XSWL paradigms, such as varying object exemplars and variable speakers. In the present study, we examine the separate and combined effects of exemplar and speaker variability on XSWL in typically developing English-speaking monolingual children. Results revealed that variability in speakers and exemplars did not facilitate or hinder XSWL performance. However, input that varied in both speakers and exemplars simultaneously did hinder children's word learning. Results from this work suggest that XSWL mechanisms may support categorization and generalization beyond word-object associations, but that accommodating multiple forms of variable input may incur costs. Overall, this research provides new theoretical insights into how fundamental mechanisms of word learning scale to more complex and naturalistic forms of input.
跨情境词汇学习（XSWL）——儿童通过跟踪词汇及其指称随时间的共现统计数据来学习词汇的能力——被认为是词汇学习的基本机制。然而，目前尚不清楚儿童在 XSWL 范式中面对多变的输入时（例如不同的物体范例和不同的说话者）是否能够习得新单词。在本研究中，我们考察了范例和说话者变异性对典型发展的英语单语儿童 XSWL 的单独和综合影响。结果表明，说话者和范例的变异性既没有促进也没有阻碍 XSWL 的表现。然而，同时在说话者和范例上变化的输入确实阻碍了儿童的词汇学习。这项工作的结果表明，XSWL 机制可能支持分类和泛化，超越单词-对象的关联，但适应多种形式的可变输入可能会产生成本。总的来说，这项研究为基本的词汇学习机制如何扩展到更复杂和自然的输入形式提供了新的理论见解。
