VOCABULARY EXPANSION IN SEVERE MENTAL RETARDATION

描述：在典型的发育迟缓的儿童中，一次一个 单词学习之后，他们的词汇量明显增加。一 据估计，孩子们每天最多学习九个新单词。通过 相比之下，对于一些严重精神发育迟滞的人来说，生词 只有通过缓慢而深思熟虑的努力才能进入词典。然而，这个词 学习是人类发展的一个基本组成部分，对于 高级语言功能和对复杂表征的贡献 技能(例如，分类)。到了认知障碍的程度 干扰单词学习，这些领域的进步将是 相应地也是有限的。因此，有必要详细探讨 严重精神发育迟滞患者词汇障碍的特点。他的存在 严重精神障碍患者词汇习得困难的研究 发育迟缓引发了一些重要问题。当词汇量迅速扩大时 发生，什么样的语言认知过程支持这种学习？当它 没有发生，哪些技能是欠缺的或缺位的？一种现象被称为 快速映射可能与快速词汇具有最大的潜在相关性 扩张。快速映射是指对以下内容的快速、初步的部分理解 一个新词的意思是从词语使用的上下文中得出的。快速映射具有 被认为是促进词汇量激增的原因。这一提议的角色具有 在典型的唐氏症青少年和儿童中得到了经验证实 综合症。然而，来自非典型认知/语言儿童的证据表明 最近对这种关系的普遍性提出了质疑。《校长》 研究者的研究增加了选择性的初步证据 严重精神发育迟滞患者在快速映射方面的缺陷， 威廉氏综合症，或特定的语言障碍。赤字最多的是 当个人试图将这一原则应用于 扩大词汇量的目的。这些最新的发现需要更多的 系统分析原则在学习中的确切作用 精神发育迟滞的后果。快速映射在患有以下疾病的个人中是否存在风险 严重的智力障碍，潜在地限制了他们的词汇量？ 这项申请提出了一项为期五年的词汇量扩大研究，并 Delay，专门关注现有但有限的 词汇。拟议的一系列研究将实施所开发的方法 由首席调查员提出，这将使系统分析 严重精神发育迟滞患者的词汇扩展问题尚未解决。这个 项目有四个具体目标，这些目标将在四年的过程中得到解决 研究：1)考察快速映射与快速词汇的关系 扩展和非语言过程，以探索 严重精神发育迟滞患者的词汇扩展；2)探讨严重精神发育迟滞的词汇量 通过快速映射学习的最大漏洞是显式 评估参与者的技能，并观察故障发生的方式 发生；3)从普遍考察的对象词扩展分析 学习动作相关词汇的习得，以确定是否 两种类型的表单/类的快速映射过程相似 类别；4)检查儿童表象背后的基础 假设新词应该并且确实映射到未命名的对象，以及 这一假设在患有严重精神发育迟滞的个体中是成立的。

DESCRIPTION: In typically-developing children initially slow, one-at-a-time word learning is followed by an apparent explosion in their lexicon. One estimate suggests that children are learning up to nine new words a day. By contrast, for some individuals with severe mental retardation new words enter the lexicon only through slow and deliberate effort. Yet word learning is a foundational component of human development, necessary for advanced linguistic functions and contributing to complex representational skills (e.g., categorization). To the extent that a cognitive disability interferes with word learning, progress in these domains will be correspondingly limited. It is therefore essential to explore in detail the nature of lexical impairments in severe mental retardation. The existence of difficulties in lexical acquisition among individuals with severe mental retardation raises important questions. When rapid vocabulary expansion occurs, what linguistic cognitive processes support that learning? When it does not occur, what skills are deficient or absent? A phenomenon called fast mapping may be of greatest potential relevance for rapid vocabulary expansion. Fast mapping refers to a quick, initial partial understanding of a new word's meaning derived from the context of word use. Fast mapping has been argued to facilitate the vocabulary explosion. This proposed role has received empirical confirmation in typical youngsters and children with Down syndrome. Yet evidence from children with atypical cognition/language has recently challenged the universality of this relation. The Principal Investigator's studies have added to the preliminary evidence of selective deficits in fast mapping among individuals with severe mental retardation, William's syndrome, or specific language impairments. The deficits are most often observed when individuals attempt to apply the principle for the purpose of vocabulary expansion. These recent findings oblige a more systematic analysis of the precise role of the principle in learning outcomes in mental retardation. Is fast mapping at risk in individuals with severe mental retardation, potentially limiting their vocabulary expansion? This application proposes a five-year study of vocabulary expansion and delay, focusing specifically on rapid expansion of an extant, but limited, vocabulary. The proposed series of studies will implement methods developed by the Principal Investigator that will enable the systematic analysis of unresolved questions of lexical expansion in severe mental retardation. The project has four specific aims that will be addressed in the course of four studies: 1) To examine the relation of fast mapping, rapid vocabulary expansion, and nonverbal processes, in order to explore the nature of lexical expansion in severe mental retardation; 2) To explore the points of greatest vulnerability for learning through fast mapping by explicitly taxing participants' skills and observing the ways in which breakdowns occur; 3) To extend the analysis from the commonly examined object-word learning to the acquisition of action-related words, to determine whether processes of fast mapping are similar for the two types of form/class categories; 4) To examine the basis underlying children's apparent assumption that new words should and do map to unnamed objects, and whether this assumption is intact among individuals with severe mental retardation.