Age-related differences in expectation-based novel word learning

Abstract

Adult language users can infer the meaning of a previously unfamiliar word from a single exposure to this word in a semantically and thematically constrained context, henceforth, predictive context (Borovsky et al., 2010 Cognition, 116(2), 289–296; Borovsky et al., 2012 Language Learning and Development, 8(3), 278–302). Children use predictive contexts to anticipate upcoming stimuli (Borovsky et al., 2012 Language Learning and Development, 8(3), 278–302; Mani & Huettig, 2012 Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 38(4), 843–847), but the extent to which they rely on prediction to learn novel word forms is unclear (Gambi et al., 2021 Cognition, 211, 104650). Here, we examine children’s one-shot learning from predictive contexts using a modified version of the one-shot learning ERP paradigm for children aged 7–13 years. In a first learning phase, we presented audio recordings of expected words and unexpected novel pseudowords in strongly and weakly constraining sentence contexts. In the following priming phase, the same recorded words and pseudowords were used as primes to identical/synonymous, related, and unrelated target words. We measured N400 modulations to the word and pseudoword continuations in the learning phase and to the identical/synonymous, related, or unrelated target words in the priming phase. When initially presented in strongly constraining sentences, novel pseudowords primed synonymous targets equally well as word primes of the same intended meaning. This pattern was particularly pronounced in older children. Our findings suggest that, around early adolescence, children can use single exposures to constraining contexts to infer the meaning of novel words and to integrate these novel words in their lexicons.