Complementary Learning Systems and Vocabulary Acquisition

old_uid7023
titleComplementary Learning Systems and Vocabulary Acquisition
start_date2009/05/25
schedule13h30-14h30
onlineno
summaryIn this talk I will explore the possibility that learning a word involves several stages that can be discriminated on the basis of function and duration. Many aspects of learning a new word are effectively immediate. However, some more subtle aspects of word learning appear to be slower. For example, there is broad agreement between many theories that spoken-word recognition is a parallel process of competition between lexical candidates. The ability to take part in this competition can be thought of as the defining characteristic of a lexical representation, and I will present behavioural data suggesting that this engagement in competition does not occur immediately, and is instead associated with sleep. I will argue that the temporal dissociation in word learning can be related to existing models of memory formation. Finally, I will address whether sleep is a necessary state for integrated novel words in the mental lexicon, or whether there are alternative means of achieving this state.
responsiblesBressé, Cohen, Kergoat