Work

The Role of Single Talker Acoustic Variation in Early Word Learning

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: Recent work has demonstrated that the addition of multiple talkers during habituation improves 14-month-olds' performance in the switch task (Rost & McMurray, 2009). While the authors suggest that this boost in performance is due to the increase in acoustic variability (Rost & McMurray, 2010), it is also possible that there is something crucial about the presence of multiple talkers that is driving this performance. To determine whether or not acoustic variability in and of itself is beneficial in early word learning tasks like the switch task, we tested 14-month-old infants in a version of the switch task using acoustically variable auditory stimuli produced by a single speaker. Results show that 14-month-olds are able to learn phonemically similar words within the switch task with increased acoustic variability and without the presence of multiple talkers.

Source: Language Learning and Development

DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2014.895249

Authors: Marcus E. Galle, Keith S. Apfelbaum, Bob McMurray

Institution: University of Iowa

Language: English

Topic: Language Development and Disorders

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Center for Research Resources

Awards: General Clinical Research Center, The Development of Real Time Spoken and Written Word Recognition: Cognitive Bases of Language and Educational Outcomes, Iowa Cochlear Implant Clinical Research Center VIII