How Do Children Map Words Onto Objects shows how 10 month olds vary in their acquisition of words from 12 month olds. It is a linguistic presentation, based on experimentally verified findings

1. How Do ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects? Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz Department of English and Linguistics Winter Semester 2009/2010 PrS First Language Acquisition Leiter: Sabine Schneider Referent: Paul-Christian Britz Nov. 24th, 2009 1 24.11.2009

2. HowDo ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects? 2 24.11.2009 How Do ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects? Theories: Social Clues PerceptuallySalientAssociation Locationof Objects

3. 3 24.11.2009 How Do ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects? Theories: Social Clues Infants aged 12 months and older learn words through social clues HowDo ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects?

4. 4 24.11.2009 How Do ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects? Theories: PerceptuallySalientAssociation Might infants learn only words for objects that they find interesting? HowDo ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects?

5. 5 24.11.2009 How Do ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects? Theories: Locationof Objects Do infants learn words by object location rather than the object? HowDo ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects?

6. HowDo ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects? 6 24.11.2009 Q: Can children of 10 months learn words? If so, how do they do it?

7. HowDo ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects? 7 24.11.2009 Experiment 1: SocialCuesorPeceptualSalience? Children presented with an interestingand a less interesting object Using social cues (looking at the object), experimenters "name" the interesting (Group A, coincidental condition) or uninteresting (Group B, conflict condition) object: "Look, it's a modi!"

8. HowDo ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects? 8 24.11.2009 Observations Experiment 1: children looked at the interesting object longer than the uninteresting  objects indeed appear to be more interesting when prompted with the word, both groups looked at the interesting object longer than the uninteresting, no matter if they were cued for it or not children aged 10 mths. do not know social intent

9. 9 24.11.2009 Experiment 2: Location Children presented with an interestingand a less interesting object Objectlocationsareswitchedfortesting HowDo ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects?

10. HowDo ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects? 10 24.11.2009 Observations Experiment 2: although switching the position of the objects made it harder to children to "map" the right object, the majority showed the same preference for the interesting object --> the learning of words is not dependent on location

11. HowDo ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects? 11 24.11.2009 Interpretation: Children (10 months) learn words by salience and association The mechanisms of learning change over time (12and 18 monthsoldslearnthroughsocialintent)  Indicates that infants of 10 months do not have a theory of mind, but learn by association

12. HowDo ChildrenMap Words Onto Objects? 12 24.11.2009 Discussion: Is associativewordlearningreallywordlearning? See exampleof Rico theBorder Collie: http://media.eurekalert.org/scipub/1097856s2.mov

13. Sources & Image Credits: Sources: Pruden, Shannon et al. "The Birth of Words: Ten-Month-Olds Learn Words Through Perceptual Salience". Child Development 77.2 (March/April 2006): 266 - 280. Stein, Rob. "Common Collie or Uberpooch?" Washington Post; June 11, 2004, page A01. Online <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31130-2004Jun10_2.html>. Nov. 20th, 2009. Video: Border Collie Rico: http://media.eurekalert.org/scipub/1097856s2.mov Images: ChildfaceMap: Copyright unknownhttp://www.charityhowto.com/video_info.php?vid=9 Monkey: CC fromFlickr: Law_kevin “OddOne Out“: CC fromFlickr: SimonWhitacker “Hier&Dort“: Copyright pcbritz “InterestingObject“: CC fromFlickr: gseven “UninterestingObject“: CC fromflickr: ross.grady 24.11.2009 13