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. 2012 Dec;125(3):339-52.
doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2012.08.006. Epub 2012 Sep 16.

Predictable locations aid early object name learning

Viridiana L Benitez  1 , Linda B Smith
Affiliations

Predictable locations aid early object name learning

Viridiana L Benitez et al. Cognition. 2012 Dec.

Abstract

Expectancy-based localized attention has been shown to promote the formation and retrieval of multisensory memories in adults. Three experiments show that these processes also characterize attention and learning in 16- to 18-month old infants and, moreover, that these processes may play a critical role in supporting early object name learning. The three experiments show that infants learn names for objects when those objects have predictable rather than varied locations, that infants who anticipate the location of named objects better learn those object names, and that infants integrate experiences that are separated in time but share a common location. Taken together, these results suggest that localized attention, cued attention, and spatial indexing are an inter-related set of processes in young children that aid in the early building of coherent object representations. The relevance of the experimental results and spatial attention for everyday word learning are discussed.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Hypothesis about how predictable locations may aid object name learnig: An object-naming event involves the association of both the object features and a direction of attention with that name. After several repretitions of a name with an object at a specific location, the label may cue a direction of attention and enhance object processing, and the direction of attention may also cue the name and object features. Over time, these memories become integrated, and the result is a name being bound to an object.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pop up box (a) and the popped up objects (b) used in the experiments. The Hard test trials (b) consisted of choices among the three popped-up objects. The Easy test trials (c) consisted of the popped-up target and two novel objects not used in the training phase.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mean proportion correct (and standard error of the mean) for Easy and Hard test trials for the Constant- and Varied-Location conditions in Experiment 1. Asterisks denote significant differences (p<0.001) from chance (dashed line).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mean latencies to look at the popped up object (and standard error of the mean) for blocks 1-6 for the Constant- and Varied-Location conditions in Experiment 1. Asterisks denote significant differences between the two conditions (Bonferroni post-hoc tests, p<0.001).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Proportion correct on probe trials and on test trials for each participant in Experiment 2. Participants are ordered by performance on the probe trials testing anticipations of object locations given the cue.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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