Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-fx4k7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-19T21:48:31.502Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Object Shape and Depth of Word Representations in Preschoolers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2023

Nina CAPONE SINGLETON  and
Jessica SAKS
Nina CAPONE SINGLETON*
Affiliation:
Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Seton Hall University, Nutley, USA. Department of Pediatrics, Hackensack Meridian Health School of Medicine, USA.
Jessica SAKS
Affiliation:
New York City Department of Education, New York State, USA.
*
*Corresponding author: Dr. Capone Singleton, Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Seton Hall University, 123 Metro Blvd, Interprofessional Health Sciences Campus, Nutley, NJ, 07110. E-mail: nina.capone@shu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examined the effect of a shape cue (i.e., co-speech gesture) on word depth. We taught 23 preschoolers (M = 3;5 years, SD = 5.82) novel objects with either shape (SHP) or indicator (IND) gestures. SHP gestures mimicked object form, but IND gestures were not semantically related to the object (e.g., an upward-facing palm, extended toward the object). Each object had a unique IND or SHP gesture. Outcome measures reflected richer semantic and phonological learning in the SHP than in the IND condition. In the SHP condition, preschoolers (a) expressed more semantic knowledge, (b) said more sounds in names, and (c) generalized more names to untaught objects. There were also fewer disruptions to prime picture names in the SHP condition; we discuss the benefit of a co-speech shape gesture to capitalize on well-established statistical word learning patterns.

Keywords

shape biassemanticsphonologyword learninggesture

Information

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , January 2024 , pp. 168 - 190
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. (1991). Conditions of vocabulary acquisition. In Barr, R., Kamil, M. L., Mosentahal, P., & Pearson, P. D. (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol.2, pp. 789–814). New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. (2007). Increasing young low-income children’s oral vocabulary repertoires through rich and focused instruction. The Elementary School Journal, 107(3), 251–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borgström, K., Torkildsen, J. V. K., Sahlén, B., & Lindgren, M. (2019). Brain Measures of Toddlers’ Shape Recognition Predict Language and Cognitive Skills at 6-7 Years. Frontiers in Psychology, 23(10), 1945. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01945 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borovsky, A. (2022). Lexico-semantic structure in vocabulary and its links to lexical processing in toddlerhood and language outcomes at age three, Developmental Psychology, 58(4), 607–630. doi: 10.1037/dev0001291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brady, T. F., Konkle, T., & Alvarez, G. A. (2009). Compression in visual working memory. Using statistical regularities to form more efficient memory representations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 138(4), 487–502. doi: 10.1037/a0016797.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Butterworth, G., & Grover, L. (1990). Joint visual attention, manual pointing and preverbal communication in human infancy. In Jeannerod, M. (Ed.), Attention and performance XIII (pp. 605–624). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Capone, N. C. (2007). Tapping toddlers’ evolving semantic representation via gesture. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 50(3), 732–745. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2007/051).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Capone, N. C., & McGregor, K. K. (2005). The effect of semantic representation on toddlers’ word retrieval. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 48(6), 1468–1480. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2005/102) CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Capone Singleton, N. C. (2012). Can semantic enrichment lead to naming in a word extension task? American Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 21, 279 – 292. doi: 10.1044/1058-0360(2012/11-0019).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capone Singleton, N. C., & Anderson, L. (2020). Making object shape explicit for toddlers with late language emergence. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 63(3), 749 – 763. doi: 10.1044/2019_JSLHR-1900235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carey, S. (1978). The child as word learner. In Halle, M., Bresnan, J., & Miller, C.A. (Eds.), Linguistic theory and psychological reality (pp. 264–293). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chaigneau, S. E., Barsalou, L. W., & Sloman, S. A. (2004). Assessing the causal structure of function, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133(4), 601–625. doi: 10.1037/0096-3445.133.4601.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.Google Scholar
Collison, B. A., Grela, B., Spaulding, T., Rueckl, J. G., & Magnuson, J. S. (2015). Individual differences in the shape bias in preschool children with specific language impairment and typical language development: theoretical and clinical implications. Developmental Science, 18(3), 373–388. doi: 10.1111/desc.12219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colunga, E., & Sims, C. E. (2017). Not only size matters: Early-talker and late talker vocabularies support different word-learning biases in babies and networks. Cognitive science, 41(Suppl. 1), 73–95. doi: 10.1111/cogs.12409.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dell, G. S. (1986). A spreading activation theory of retrieval in sentence production. Psychological Review, 93(3), 283–321. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.93.3.283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fernandino, L., Binder, J. R., Desai, R. H., Pendl, S. L., Humphries, C. J., Gross, W. L., Conant, L. L., & Seidenberg, M. S. (2016). Concept representation reflects multimodal abstraction: A framework for embodied semantics. Cerebral Cortex, 26(5), 2018–2034. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhv020.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gentner, D. (1978). What looks like a jiggy but acts like a zimbo? A study of early word meaning using artificial objects. Papers and Reports on Child Language Development, 15, 1–6.Google Scholar
Gershkoff-Stowe, L. (2001). The course of children’s naming errors in early word learning. Journal of Cognition and Development. 2(2), 131–155. doi: 10.1207/S15327647JCD0202_2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gershkoff-Stowe, L., Connell, B., & Smith, L. (2006). Priming overgeneralizations in two-and four-year-old children. Journal of Child Language, 33(3), 461–486. doi: 10.1017/S0305000906007562.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gershkoff-Stowe, L., & Smith, L. B. (1997). A curvilinear trend in naming errors as a function of early vocabulary growth. Cognitive Psychology, 34(1), 37–71. doi: 10.1006/cogp.1997.0664.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gershkoff-Stowe, L., & Smith, L. B. (2004). Shape and the first hundred nouns. Child Development, 75(4), 1098–1174. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00728x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hodges, L. E., Özçalişan, S., & Williamson, R. (2018). Type of iconicity influences children’s comprehension of gesture. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 166, 327–339. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.08.009.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hollich, G. J., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M., Brand, R. J., Brown, E., Chung, H. L., Hennon, E., & Rocroi, C. (2000). Breaking the language barrier: An emergentist coalition model for the origins of word learning. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 65(3), 1–123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jefferies, E., Frankish, C. R., & Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2006). Lexical, & Semantic Binding in verbal short-term memory. Journal of Memory and Language. 54(1), 81–98. doi: 10.1016/j.jml.2005.08.001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, S. S. (2003). Late talkers show no shape bias in a novel name extension task. Developmental Science, 6(5), 477–483. doi: 10.1111/1467-7687.00304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, S. S., & Smith, L. B. (1993). The place of perception in children’s concepts. Cognitive Development, 8(2), 113–139. doi: 10.1016/0885-2014(93)90008-S.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, S. S., & Smith, L. B. (2005). Object name learning and object perception: A deficit in late talkers. Journal of Child Language, 32(1), 223–240. doi: 10.1017/s0305000904006646.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kapnoula, E. C., Packard, S., Gupta, P., & McMurray, B. (2015). Immediate lexical integration of novel words forms. Cognition, 134, 85–99. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2014.09.007.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kehoe, M., Chaplin, E., Mudry, P., & Friend, M. (2015). The development of phonological skills in late and early talkers. Reeducation Orthophonique, 263, 61–85.Google ScholarPubMed
Kemler-Nelson, D. G. (1999). Attention to functional properties in toddlers’ naming and problem-solving. Cognitive Development, 14(1), 77–100. doi: 10.1016/S0885-2014(99)80019-7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kucker, S. C., Samuelson, L. K., Perry, L. K., Yoshida, H., Colunga, E., Lorenz, M. G., & Smith, L. G. (2019). Reproducibility and a unifying explanation: Lessons from the shape bias. Infant Behavior and Development, 54, 156–165. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2018.09011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landau, B., Smith, L. B., & Jones, S. S. (1988). The importance of shape in early lexical learning. Cognitive Development, 3(3), 299–321. doi: 10.1016/0885-2014(88)90014-7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leach, L., & Samuel, S. G. (2007). Lexical configuration and lexical engagement: When adults learn new words. Cognitive Psychology, 55(4), 306–353. doi: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2007.01.001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levelt, W. J. M. (2001). Spoken word production: A theory of lexical access. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(23), 13464–13471. doi: 10.1073/pnas.231459498.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindsey, A., Bunker, L., Mozeiko, J., & Coelho, C. (2020). Primed to cue. Journal of Communication Disorders, 86. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2020.105998.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Magid, R. W., Pyers, J. E. (2017). “I use it when I see it”: The role of development and experience in Deaf and hearing chil’ren’s understanding of iconic gesture. Cognition, 162, 73–86. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.01.015.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Markman, E. (1990). Constraints children place on word meanings. Cognitive Science, 14(1), 57–77. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.01.015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClelland, J. L., & Rogers, T. T. (2003). The parallel distributed processing approach to semantic cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 4(4), 310–322. doi: 10.1038/nrn1076.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGregor, K. K. (1997). The nature of word-finding errors of preschoolers with and without word-finding deficits. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 40(6), 1232–1244. doi: 10.1044/jslhr.4006.1232.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGregor, K. K., Friedman, R. M., Reilly, R. M., & Newman, R. M. (2002a). Semantic representation and naming in young children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 45(2), 332–346. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2002/026).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGregor, K. K., Newman, R. M., Reilly, R. M., & Capone, N. C. (2002b). Semantic Representation and Naming in Children with Specific Language Impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 45(4), 310–322. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2002/081.Google ScholarPubMed
O’Donnell, R. E., Clement, A., & Brockmole, J. R. (2018). Semantic and functional relationships among objects increase the capacity of visual working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 44(7), 1151–1158. doi: 10.1037/xlm0000508.Google ScholarPubMed
Patterson, K. E., Graham, N., & Hodges, J. R. (1994). The impact of semantic memory loss on phonological representations. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 6(1), 57–69. doi: 10.1162/jocn.1994.6.1.57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perry, L. K., & Kucker, S. C. (2019). The heterogeneity of word learning biases in late-talking children. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 62(3), 554–564. doi: 10.1044/2019_JSLHR-L-ASTM-18-0234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perry, L. K., Meltzer, A. L., & Kucker, S. C. (2021). Vocabulary Development and the Shape Bias in Children with Hearing Loss. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 64(9), 3520–3532. doi: 10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-00003.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peters, R., & Borovsky, A. (2019). Modeling early lexico-semantic network development: Perceptual features matter most, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148(4), 763–782. doi: 10.1037/xge0000596.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rogalski, Y., Peelle, J., & Reilly, J. E. (2001). Effects of perceptual and contextual enrichment on visual confrontation naming in adult aging. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 54(5), 1349–1360. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2011/10-0178).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saffran, J. R., Aslin, R. N., & Newport, E. L. (1996). Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science, 274(5294), 1926–1928. doi: 10.1126/science274.5294.1926.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Samuelson, L. K. (2002). Statistical regularities in vocabulary guide language acquisition in connectionist models and 15-20-month-olds. Developmental Psychology, 38(6), 1016–1037. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.38.6.1016 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schmitt, N. (2014).Size and depth of vocabulary knowledge: What the research shows. Language Learning, 64(4), 913–951. doi: 10.1111/lang.12077.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shriberg, L. D. (1993). Four new speech and voice-prosody-voice measures for genetics research and other studies in developmental phonological disorders. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 36(1), 105–140. doi: 10.1044/jshr.3601.105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, L. B., Jones, S. S., Landau, B., Gershkoff-Stowe, L., & Samuelson, L. (2002). Object name learning provides on-the-job training for attention. Psychological Science, 13(1), 13–19. doi: 10.1111/1467-9280.00403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Storkel, H. L. (2009). Developmental differences in the effects of phonological, lexical, and semantic variables on word learning by infants. Journal of Child Language, 36(2), 291–321. doi: 10.1017/S030500090800891X.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Storkel, H. L. (2013). A corpus of consonant-vowel-consonant real words and nonwords: Comparison of phonotactic probability, neighborhood density, and consonant age of acquisition. Behavioral Research Methods, 45(4), 1159–1167. doi: 10.3758/s13428-012-0309-7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tek, S., Jeffery, G., Fein, D., & Naigles, L. R. (2008). Do children with autism spectrum disorders show a shape bias in word learning? Autism Research, 1(4), 208–222. doi: doi: 10.1002/aur.38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vogt, S. S., & Kauschke, C. (2017). With some help from others’ hands: Iconic gestures helps semantic learning in children with specific learning impairment, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 60(11), 3213–3225. doi: 10.1044/2017_JSLHR-L-17-0004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wakefield, E. M., Hall, C., James, K. H., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2018). Gestures for generalization: Gesture facilitates flexible learning of words for actions on objects. Developmental Science, 21(5), e12656. doi: 10.1111/desc.12656.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, K. (1997). Expressive Vocabulary Test. Circle Pines,MN: American Guidance Services.Google Scholar
Wojcik, E. H. (2018). The development of lexical-semantic networks in infants and toddlers, Child Development Perspectives, 12(1), 34–38. doi: 10.1111/cdep.12252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wojcik, E. H., & Saffran, J. R. (2013). The ontogeny of lexical networks. Toddlers encode the relationships among referents when learning novel words. Psychological Science, 24(10), 1898–1905. doi: 10.1177/0956797613478198.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zammit, M., & Schafer, G. (2010). Maternal Label and gesture use affects acquisition of specific object names. Journal of Child Language, 38(1), 201–221. doi: 10.1017/S0305000909990328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar