Technological timescales: Identifying the impact of digital media on the mechanisms of word learning

孩子生命的头两年的特点是学习新单词的能力不断增强，词汇量呈指数级增长。我们还知道，孩子学习新单词的环境会影响这个单词融入他们的词汇，并随着时间的推移对语言的发展产生连锁反应。然而，在过去的十年里，数字媒体作为语言输入的一个来源出现了增长，标志着儿童遇到和学习单词的环境发生了转变——从丰富的、三维的、互动的物体到不那么丰富、不那么具体、更短暂的时刻。然而，关于儿童如何在数字形式中映射、记忆和概括单词，以及数字媒体对词汇增长的级联影响，人们知之甚少。本研究的目标是确定数字媒体如何改变单词学习的机制，并随后影响儿童词汇建立的词汇基础。具体而言，该提案旨在确定数字媒体对1)实时单词学习过程的影响，以及2)语言概括和词汇增长过程的影响。具体目标1将使用一个新颖的单词学习任务来测试儿童在数字媒体（平板电脑上的2D图像）和现实世界的物体（3D物体）之间映射和记忆新单词的能力。具体目标2将探讨儿童新颖的标签概括能力内和之间的2D和3D模式使用一个新的名词概括任务。此外，儿童先前技术经验的个体差异将被测量并用于预测整体词汇量以及每个任务内部和之间的表现。研究结果将通过以下方式促进我们对语言发展的理解：a)确定从数字媒体中学习单词的过程是否与用真实物体学习单词的过程有质的不同；b)量化数字环境如何改变词汇发展支持词汇增长的级联。此外，研究结果将有助于预测长期的语言结果，并为教育工作者、临床医生和家长提供具体的建议（或警告），以了解幼儿在这些关键时期接触科技产品何时以及如何影响单词学习。

The first two years of a child’s life are marked by an increasing ability to learn new words and an exponential growth in their vocabulary. We also know that the context in which a child learns a new word affects the integration of that word into their lexicon and has cascading effects on language growth over time. However, the last decade has seen a rise in digital media as a source of language input, marking a shift in the contexts in which children encounter and learn words – from rich, three-dimensional, and interactive objects to moments that are less rich, less embodied, and more transient. Little, however, is known about how children map, retain, and generalize words in digital forms or the cascading impact digital media has on vocabulary growth. The goal of the current proposal is to identify how digital media alters the mechanisms of word learning and subsequently impacts the lexical foundation on which a child’s vocabulary is built. Specifically, the proposal aims to identify the impact of digital media on 1) the processes underlying real-time word learning, and 2) the processes of language generalization and vocabulary growth. Specific Aim 1 will use a novel word learning task to test children’s ability to map and retain new words within and between digital media (2D images on a tablet) and real world objects (3D objects). Specific Aim 2 will probe children’s novel label generalization abilities within and between 2D and 3D modalities using a novel noun generalization task. Further, individual differences in a child’s prior technology experience will be measured and used to predict overall vocabulary as well as performance within and between each task. The results will advance our understanding of language development by a) establishing whether the process of word learning from digital media qualitatively differs from learning with real objects, and b) quantifying how digital contexts alter the cascade by which lexical development supports vocabulary growth. Further, the findings will have implications for predicting long-term language outcomes and forming specific recommendations (or warnings) for educators, clinicians, and parents on when and how young children’s technology exposure impacts word learning during these critical years.