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Scanning the infant brain : tracking first words| old_uid | 3637 |
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| title | Scanning the infant brain : tracking first words |
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| start_date | 2007/12/10 |
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| schedule | 11h-12h30 |
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| online | no |
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| summary | It has long been known that word learning under natural circumstances is characterised by a slow start followed by a steeply rising curve. Previous studies using the head turn procedure (HT) have shown that both English and French infants show word form recognition by 11 months but Welsh infants show the effect only at 12 months. Here I summarise results from ERP studies of single word form recognition in English and Welsh infants (9-12 months) and word meaning processing in English infants (16 months). First, we replicated HT results with ERPs by showing that 11-month-old English infants detect the difference between untrained familiar and rare words within 250 ms of stimulus onset. Second, we found localised signs of a familiarity effect at 9 months and a main effect of familiarity already at 10 months with ERPs when studying English infants cross-sectionally between 9 and 12 months. HT results, furthermore, were consistent and correlated significantly with ERPs between 9 and 11 months. Remarkably, word familiarity effects were found in neither HT nor ERPs at 12 months in English infants, just one month after they appeared in their most robust form. In Welsh infants we failed to obtain a significant word form recognition effect at any age in either the HT or the ERP procedure, although localized ERP effects were seen at 11 months. Finally, using a picture priming paradigm, we have found evidence for adult-like graded semantic relatedness effects in 16-month-old infants based on modulation of the classical N400 component of ERPs. Our results contribute to a developmental time-line of untrained word recognition and comprehension. |
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| responsibles | Information non disponible |
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