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. 2023 Mar;41(1):31-36.
doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12431. Epub 2022 Sep 15.

Background context affects word-object mapping

Nicholas Tippenhauer  1 , Megan M Saylor  1
Affiliations

Background context affects word-object mapping

Nicholas Tippenhauer et al. Br J Dev Psychol. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Children encounter new words across variable and noisy contexts. This variability may affect word learning, but the literature includes discrepant findings. The current experiment investigated one source of these discrepant findings: whether contexts with familiar, nameable objects are associated with less robust label learning. Two year olds were exposed to word-object pairings on variable contexts that either included nameable objects or did not. Target selection was more robust when exposure occurred without other nameable objects. The difference was present immediately, but not after a delay. This study provides the evidence that context effects are context-bound.

Keywords: context-dependent word learning; language development; toddlers.

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References

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