Speech segmentation and cross-situational word learning in parallel

• Grant number: 18/04226-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2018
• End date: August 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Human Development Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Débora de Hollanda Souza
• Grantee: Rodrigo Dal Ben de Souza
• Supervisor: Jessica Sari Fleming Hay
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Tennessee (UT), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 15/26389-7 - WORD SEGMENTATION AND MAPPING TO VISUAL STIMULI ACROSS SEQUENTIAL AND SIMULTANEOUS AMBIGUOUS TRIALS, BP.DR

Abstract

Robust evidence suggests that infants track statistics to both find word boundaries in continuous speech and to map words to referents across ambiguous trials. It remains unclear, however, whether or how these two processes occur together. Here, we aim to investigate how word segmentation and cross-situational learning interact across two experiments conducted with native speakers of American English. In Experiment 1, we investigate whether statistical-based speech segmentation supports subsequent cross-situational learning. Adults will first hear a continuous artificial language where between-syllable transitional probabilities (TP) provide the only cue to word boundaries. Following familiarization, participants will complete a cross-situational word learning task, where, on any given trial, the labels (i.e., words, TP = 1, and part-words, TP = 0.33) will be ambiguously paired with novel objects. If statistical-based speech segmentation supports word learning, we expect to see greater learning for the words relative to the part-words. In Experiment 2, will we test whether adults can simultaneously track transitional probability cues and learn ambiguous label-object mappings. Participants will be presented with two objects at a time while listening to the artificial language, creating an ambiguous mapping between words and objects. Following familiarization/cross-situational learning, we will test both speech segmentation and word learning. If possible, we will conduct the same experiments with a sample of infants (12-month-olds). The proposed studies will help to advance current understanding of the processes involved in early language development, and to inform future studies on statistical language learning in speakers of different languages. (AU)

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

RODRIGO DAL BEN; DÉBORA DE HOLLANDA SOUZA; JESSICA F. HAY. Combining statistics: the role of phonotactics on cross-situational word learning. PSICOLOGIA-REFLEXAO E CRITICA, v. 35, 2022-10-17. (18/04226-7, 08/57705-8, 14/50909-8, 15/26389-7)

DAL BEN, RODRIGO; SOUZA, DEBORA DE HOLLANDA; HAY, JESSICA F.. When statistics collide: The use of transitional and phonotactic probability cues to word boundaries. MEMORY & COGNITION, v. 49, n. 7, p. 1300-1310, OCT 2021. (18/04226-7)

DAL BEN, RODRIGO; SOUZA, DEBORA DE HOLLANDA; HAY, JESSICA F.. When statistics collide: The use of transitional and phonotactic probability cues to word boundaries. MEMORY & COGNITION, MAR 2021. (18/04226-7)

DAL BEN, RODRIGO; SOUZA, DEBORA DE HOLLANDA; HAY, JESSICA F.. Combining statistics: the role of phonotactics on cross-situational word learning. PSICOLOGIA-REFLEXAO E CRITICA, v. 35, n. 1, p. 8-pg., 2022-09-28. (15/26389-7, 18/04226-7, 08/57705-8, 14/50909-8)