Lakhzoum Dounia, Izaute Marie, Ferrand Ludovic, Zeelenberg René, Pecher Diane
Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, LAPSCO, F-63001 Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Department of Psychology, Education, and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
J Cogn. 2024 Jul 12;7(1):53. doi: 10.5334/joc.384. eCollection 2024.
Recently, researchers have expressed challenges in conducting word-learning experiments in adult populations due to limited availability of normed stimulus materials. This constraint often prompts the use of low-frequency or low-prevalence words, introducing the potential influence of prior knowledge or direct translation to familiar words. In response, we developed novel abstract concepts devoid of word referents, providing better control over prior knowledge. These new concepts describe situations encountered in various settings for which there is no existing word in English. The resulting database comprises 42 normed New Abstract Concepts, offering unique materials structured through scenarios, each containing similar and dissimilar exemplars. These materials underwent meticulous norming for relatability and similarity levels across a series of studies. The success of our approach was demonstrated in a word-learning experiment examining the effects of similarity and diversity. The database serves as a valuable resource for selecting stimuli in experiments exploring the learning of abstract semantic concepts, particularly investigating the role of similarity versus diversity in concept learning. The database is available on OSF (https://osf.io/svm2p/).
最近，由于标准化刺激材料的可用性有限，研究人员在成年人群中进行词汇学习实验时遇到了挑战。这种限制常常促使人们使用低频或低流行率的词汇，从而引入了先验知识或直接翻译为熟悉词汇的潜在影响。作为回应，我们开发了没有词汇指代的新颖抽象概念，以便更好地控制先验知识。这些新概念描述了在各种场景中遇到的情况，而英语中没有现有的词汇来表达。由此产生的数据库包含42个标准化的新抽象概念，提供了通过场景构建的独特材料，每个场景都包含相似和不同的示例。这些材料在一系列研究中经过了关于相关性和相似性水平的细致标准化。我们的方法在一项考察相似性和多样性影响的词汇学习实验中得到了验证。该数据库是在探索抽象语义概念学习的实验中选择刺激材料的宝贵资源，特别是用于研究相似性与多样性在概念学习中的作用。该数据库可在开放科学框架（OSF，https://osf.io/svm2p/）上获取。
