Partial representations and phonological selectivity in the comprehension of 13- to 16-month-olds

Abstract

This study examined constraints on early phases of incidental learning ('fast mapping') of novel word comprehension in twenty 13- to 16-month-old children just beginning to acquire spoken words (10- to 30-word vocabularies). It asked: whether children this young can give evidence of comprehension, as indicated by object looking, after only four novel word exposures; whether frequency of input (4 versus 8 exposures) influenced learning; whether learning was better for novel words composed of sounds IN rather than OUT of the infant's repertoire ('phonological selectivity'); and whether infants also attended to the named object on probe trials partially similar in sounds to the novel word ('partial representation'). Planned comparisons revealed that children 13 to 16 months of age can 'fast map' novel words after only four word exposures and that representation of the word form may be partial. Further, the likelihood that a named object would be identified following a probe systematically diminished as the phonetic similarity to the target stimulus decreased. No effects of selectivity or input frequency were evident.