Investigating the effects of gesture on early word learning.

在婴儿学习交流的过程中，单词学习是最重要的任务之一。早期的词汇量与学龄期的成功有关，而婴儿有时会挣扎，进而出现发育性语言障碍。因此，了解是什么促进了成功的单词学习至关重要。幸运的是，手势是一种可以用来研究这一点的途径。父母手势的使用与后来发展中词汇量的增加有关，这表明了它对交际发展的重要性。然而，我们不知道这背后的机制，因为它在婴儿时期并不经常被调查，而且研究还没有检查婴儿注意哪些手势以及这如何帮助他们学习。因此，我博士研究的目的是通过研究婴儿如何处理手势来调查手势对单词学习的影响。为此，我将进行三项研究。在研究1中，我将使用眼球跟踪来调查婴儿的手势意识如何影响他们整体的单词学习。在研究2中，我将使用眼球跟踪来确定特定的手势是否能吸引婴儿的注意力，并教会他们新单词。在研究3中，我将使用头盔摄像头，通过一种创新的技术来研究在更自然的环境中对手势的注意力，从而建立在这些发现的基础上。这项研究的结果可能成为干预的基础，并有助于识别有语言障碍风险的儿童。在进行这项研究时，我将培养发展科学研究方法、婴儿眼球跟踪和数据分析方面的技能。

Word learning is one of the most important tasks for infants as they learn to communicate. Early vocabulary is linked to school-aged success, and infants hwo struggle sometimes go on to have developmental language disorder. Therefore, understanding what facilitates successful word learning is vital. Fortunately, gesture is an avenue that can be used toinvestigate this. Parental gesture use is associated with an increased vocabulary later in development, demonstrating its importance to communicative development. However, we do not know the mechanisms behind this, as it has not frequently been investigated in infancy, and research is yet to examine which gestures infants attend to and how that aids their learning. Therefore, the aim of my PhD research is to investigate how gesture affects word learning, by studyinghow infants attend to gestures. To do this, I will conduct three studies. In study 1, I will use eye-tracking to investigate how infants' gesture awareness impacts their overall word learning. In Study 2, I will use eye-tracking to determine if specific gestures capture infants' attention and teach them new words. In study 3, I will use head-mounted cameras to build upon these findings by using an innovative technology to study attention towards gestures in a more natural environment. The findings of this research could form the basis for interventions and help in identifying children at risk of struggling with language. In conducting this research, I will develop skills in developmental science research methods,eye-tracking with infants, and data analysis.