Investigator: Beverly Goldfield, Rhode Island College

Scientific Theme:  Neuroscience

Abstract: The specific aim of this proposal is to examine the earliest evidence for children’s comprehension of words, other than verbs, that encode action. We examine comprehension of action-related words using the Preferential Looking Task (PLT) which measures comprehension by comparing a child’s visual gaze to two images (target/distracter) before (baseline) and after (test) the target image is labeled. A Comprehension is defined as an increase in visual attention to the target image during the test trial compared to baseline presentation. In previous INBRE-supported research, we examined comprehension of verbs (e.g., hug, dance, eat). We altered the standard PLT paradigm used to test nouns by increasing the timing of baseline and test trials to provide additional exposure to the dynamic stimuli (actors performing actions) used to represent verbs and found that children comprehended verbs at 16, 18, and 20 months, but not at 12 and 14 months. These data suggest that children do not comprehend words that encode action until 16 months. However, two lines of evidence suggest otherwise. First, actions are perceptually salient throughout infancy and knowledge of actions and events increases rapidly by 12 months of age. Second, data from parent report suggest that children begin to talk about actions using words from word classes other than verbs, including words that label routine actions (e.g, bye bye used while waving the hand), games (e.g., peekaboo used while covering/uncovering the face ) and locative prepositions that encode motion, such as up, down, and out. To date, laboratory assessment of early word comprehension has been limited to nouns and verbs. The current proposal is to test children’s comprehension of these action-related words from varied word classes. Children view videos of actors performing a pair of actions (e.g., waving bye / playing peekaboo) before (baseline) and after (test) one of the actions is labelled. Visual attention is reliably monitored using a Tobii T60 XL eye tracker system. Comprehension is defined as increased attention to the action that is labelled during test compared to baseline presentation. During SURF 2017 we test the hypothesis that children comprehend action-related words at 14 and 15 months of age; during SURF 2018 we test the hypothesis that children comprehend action-related words at 12 and 13 months of age. At each age, we also compare data from the PLT laboratory assessment of comprehension to parent report data for these same action-related words.

Human Health Relevance: Although there is considerable research on language production, we know far less about comprehension. The Preferential Looking Task can be used to examine word comprehension in young children with a limited behavioral repertoire. These data can be used by both researchers and practitioners to predict developmental outcomes for normally developing children as well as those at risk for language delay