Mechanisms Supporting Experience-Driven Changes in Semantic Knowledge

人类关于世界的知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起来。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中学习，因为它允许在许多不同的背景下访问和使用存储的知识。先前的研究表明，基于特定领域的年龄和专业知识等因素，语义结构存在显著的个体差异。然而，由于缺乏合适的方法来研究幼儿的语义结构，使得我们很难通过经验和学习来洞察儿童在几个关键的发展阶段，包括学龄前和过渡到正规学校的语义结构的变化。利用幼儿结构化语义知识测量的最新进展，这个项目将进一步加深我们对真实世界环境(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快速变化的理解。这个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，包括记忆编码和提取、注意力、阅读理解以及在正式和非正式环境中的学习。因此，该项目的结果有可能提供新的证据，表明丰富的经验(如实地考察和夏令营)对儿童学习成绩的重要性。这一项目的结果将向学术受众以及社区的家长和教育工作者传播。因此，该项目将提供机会，让公众参与关于提高儿童科学素养的对话。本项目的目标是(1)开发和验证适合发展的方法来研究儿童的语义结构，(2)直接测试理论驱动的关于在现实世界中促进语义结构变化的学习机制的预测，(3)考察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认知过程。在研究1中，研究人员将开发和验证新的方法来研究4-9岁儿童的语义结构，在这样做的过程中，将研究一些早期获得的知识领域(如动物、衣服、食物)的语义结构变化如何与在这些领域进行推理能力的变化有关。在研究2和研究3中，研究团队将与当地的一个植物园合作，直接测试儿童非正式学习经历的不同方面如何导致语义结构的变化，从而影响儿童的推理理解。该项目的结果将为研究社区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，包括与学校成功相关的语义发展方面。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.