Touch to learn: How sensory cues impact word segmentation and learning

项目总结 婴儿在一个丰富的多模式世界中体验语言，在这个世界中，声音、视觉、气味、味道和触觉 一起发生。这些形式以及它们在输入中的存在如何对基本方面做出贡献 词汇习得？我们探讨了婴儿在分段时如何利用多模式输入与单模式输入 词形从连续语音和映射意义到词形。我们假设，利用的能力 输入中包括触摸(一种基本的社交信号)在内的多模式信息有助于婴儿的语言 通过贡献与单词边界对齐和单词联想相关的信息进行学习 单词形式的含义。在目标1(实验1a-c)中，我们确定 更多的通道与语音输入保持一致，从而改进了语音流的分割 注意幼儿学习者的词汇量。在目标2(实验2a和2b)中，我们确定感觉 包含更多与对象相关联的情态的输入会改善语言的单词学习 学习者。我们的方法建立在我们的初步工作基础上，表明(A)照顾者触摸+语音对齐和共同- 这种情况在与婴儿的互动中很常见，(B)婴儿在早期语言中使用多感官信息 学习任务。该设计利用行为和生理测量来检查对齐是否 (目标1)和/或联想(目标2)fluence语言学习中的多模式触摸、语音和视觉线索 通常是发育中的儿童。 这项研究具有重要的临床意义和理论意义。首先，这是临床上有意义的fi不能 由于探索多模式线索在语言学习中的作用可能会影响临床方法，因为 语言疗法或与输入有关的干预倾向于强调单独的听觉或听觉+视觉 领域，但不是触觉领域。因此，关于儿童使用多模式信息的发现 将触摸纳入语言学习可能会为婴幼儿早期干预带来新的途径 显示语言习得延迟或有语言障碍风险的人。第二，这项工作在理论上是 Signifi不能，因为它探索了多通道信息如何在不同的表征水平上帮助学习者 (词形表征、语义表征)以可能限制语言学习问题的方式。 这项研究的fi发现将挑战我们关于婴儿是哪种信息流的观点 在学习语言时要注意，因此在fl干预和育儿实践中也要注意。

Project summary Infants experience language in a rich multimodal world in which sounds, sights, smells, tastes, and touches occur together. How do these modalities, and their presence in the input, contribute to fundamental aspects of lexical acquisition? We explore how infants exploit multi- compared with uni-modal input as they segment wordforms from continuous speech and map meanings to wordforms. We hypothesize that the ability to make use of multimodal information including touch (a fundamental social signal) in the input facilitates infants' language learning by contributing information relevant to the alignment of word boundaries and the association of word meaning to wordforms. In Aim 1 (Experiments 1a-c) we determine whether sensory input that incorporates more modalities aligned with speech input, results in improved segmentation of the speech stream and improved attention to word edges for infant learners. In Aim 2 (Experiments 2a and 2b) we determine whether sensory input that incorporates more modalities associated with objects results in improved word learning for language learners. Our approach builds on our preliminary work showing that (a) caregiver touch+speech alignment and co- occurrence is common in interactions with infants and (b) infants use multisensory information in early language learning tasks. The design exploits behavioral and physiological measures to examine whether the alignment (Aim 1) and/or association (Aim 2) of multimodal touch, speech, and visual cues influence language learning in typically developing children. The proposed research is significant for its clinical and theoretical implications. First, it is clinically significant since exploring the role of multimodal cues on language learning may impact clinical approaches since current language therapies or interventions concerning the input tend to emphasize auditory alone or auditory+visual domains, but not tactile ones. Thus, discoveries concerning the child's use of multimodal information which includes touch in language learning could lead to new avenues for early intervention for infants and toddlers showing delayed language acquisition or who are at-risk of language disorders. Second, this work is theoretically significant since it explores how multimodal information may help the learner at different levels of representation (wordform representations, semantic representations) in ways that could constrain the language learning problem. The findings from this research will challenge our views concerning what kinds of informational streams infants attend to when learning language, and thus influence intervention and parenting practices.