James, Emma orcid.org/0000-0002-5214-0035, Gaskell, M. Gareth orcid.org/0000-0001-8325-1427, Murphy, Gráinne et al. (2 more authors) (2023) Word learning in the context of semantic prior knowledge : evidence of interference from feature-based neighbours in children and adults. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience. pp. 157-174. ISSN 2327-3801
Abstract
The presence of phonological neighbours facilitates word-form learning, suggesting that prior phonological knowledge supports vocabulary acquisition. We tested whether prior semantic knowledge similarly benefits word learning by teaching 7-to-10-year-old children (Experiment 1) and adults (Experiment 2) pseudowords assigned to novel concepts with low or high semantic neighbourhood density according to feature norms. Form recall, definition recall, and semantic categorisation tasks were administered immediately after training, the next day, and one week later. Across sessions, pseudowords assigned to low-density (versus high-density) semantic neighbourhood concepts elicited better word-form recall (for adults) and better meaning recall (for children). Exploratory cross-experiment analyses demonstrated that the neighbourhood influence was most robust for recalling meanings. Children showed greater gains in form recall than adults across the week, regardless of links to semantic knowledge. While the results suggest that close semantic neighbours interfere with word learning, we consider alternative semantic dimensions that may be beneficial.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Funding Information: E.J was supported by an Economic and Social Research Council 1 + 3 studentship in conducting this study. The research was additionally supported ESRC grant ES/N009924/1 awarded to L.M.H. and M.G.G. An earlier version of this manuscript was published in the first author's PhD thesis, and we would like to thank Professor Dorothy Bishop for suggesting further exploratory analyses. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. |
Keywords: | consolidation, development, prior knowledge, semantic neighbourhood density, Vocabulary, word learning |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Psychology (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 06 Mar 2024 10:20 |
Last Modified: | 06 Mar 2024 10:21 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2022.2102198 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/23273798.2022.2102198 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:209973 |