Mechanisms Supporting Experience-Driven Changes in Semantic Knowledge

人类对世界的认识是在语义网络中构建的，在语义网络中，概念通过相关关系联系在一起。这种语义结构被认为对许多日常活动至关重要，包括在正式和非正式环境下的学习，因为它允许在许多不同的上下文中访问和使用存储的知识。先前的研究表明，基于年龄和特定领域的专业知识等因素，语义结构存在显著的个体差异。然而，由于缺乏适合研究幼儿语义结构的方法，因此很难深入了解在几个关键的发展时期（包括学龄前和向正规学校过渡），随着经验和学习而发生的语义结构变化。利用最近在测量幼儿结构化语义知识方面的进展，该项目将进一步加深我们对现实世界环境（如当地植物园的夏令营）中的学习和经验如何促进儿童语义网络的快速变化的理解。该项目的结果将对我们理解许多被认为依赖于结构化语义知识的认知过程产生影响，包括记忆编码和检索、注意力、阅读理解以及正式和非正式环境下的学习。因此，该项目的结果有可能提供新的证据，指出丰富经验（如实地考察和夏令营）对儿童学业成就的重要性。该项目的研究结果将分发给学术界人士，以及社区的家长和教育工作者。因此，该项目将提供机会，让公众参与有关提高儿童科学素养的对话。该项目的目标是：(1)开发和验证适合儿童发展的语义结构研究方法，(2)直接测试现实世界中促进语义结构变化的学习机制的理论驱动预测，以及(3)研究语义结构的变化如何促进推理理解的变化，推理理解是阅读理解的一个组成部分。在研究1中，研究人员将开发和验证研究4-9岁儿童语义结构的新方法，并在此过程中研究在许多早期获得的知识领域（例如，动物，衣服，食物）中语义结构的变化如何与这些领域中推理能力的变化相关。在研究2和3中，研究团队将与当地植物园合作，直接测试儿童非正式学习经历的不同方面如何影响语义结构的变化，从而影响儿童的推理理解。该项目的结果将为研究界提供研究儿童语义网络的新方法，并将为丰富经验对语义发展的重要性提供新的见解，包括与学业成功相关的语义发展方面。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Human knowledge about the world is structured in semantic networks in which concepts are linked by relevant relations. This semantic structure is thought to be crucially important for many day-to-day activities, including learning in formal and informal settings, because it allows access to and use of stored knowledge across many different contexts. Prior studies suggest that there are marked individual differences in semantic structure based on factors such as age and expertise in specific domains. However, paucity of methods appropriate for studying semantic structure in young children makes it challenging to gain insight into changes in semantic structure with experience and learning during several key developmental periods, including the preschool years and transition into formal schooling. Using recent advances in the measurement of structured semantic knowledge in young children, this project will further our understanding of how learning and experience in real-world settings (such as a summer camp at a local botanical garden) promote rapid changes in children's semantic networks. The results of this project will have implications for our understanding of many cognitive processes thought to rely on structured semantic knowledge, including memory encoding and retrieval, attention, reading comprehension, and learning in formal and informal settings. Therefore, the results of this project have the potential to provide novel evidence pointing to the importance of enrichment experiences (such as field trips and summer camps) to children's academic achievement. The findings from this project will be disseminated to academic audiences and also to parents and educators in the community. Therefore, this project will provide opportunities to engage members of the public in conversations about improving the scientific literacy of children. The goals of this project are (1) to develop and validate developmentally-appropriate methods to study semantic structure in children, (2) to directly test theoretically-driven predictions about the learning mechanisms promoting changes in semantic structure in a real-world setting, and (3) to examine how changes in semantic structure promote changes in inferential comprehension, a cognitive process that is a component of reading comprehension. In Study 1, the researchers will develop and validate new methods to study semantic structure in children aged 4-9 years, and in so doing will examine how changes in semantic structure across a number of early acquired domains of knowledge (e.g., animals, clothes, foods) are related to changes in the ability to make inferences in those domains. In Studies 2 and 3, the research team will partner with a local botanical garden to directly test how different aspects of children's informal learning experiences contribute to changes in semantic structure and thereby affect children's inferential comprehension. The results of this project will provide the research community with new methods of studying semantic networks in children and will provide new insights into the importance of enrichment experiences for semantic development, including aspects of semantic development that are relevant for school success.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.