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Children attend to intrinsic motions when learning nouns

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Date Issued:
2005
Summary:
The present research was designed to test whether 3-year-old-English-speaking children preferentially associate novel nouns with intrinsic motion rather than extrinsic motion, as predicted by the theory of Kersten (1998). Intrinsic motion refers to the ways the parts of an object move in relation to one another. In contrast, extrinsic motion refers to the motion of an object as a whole with respect to an external reference point (e.g. another object). In two separate experiments, we demonstrated that nouns are associated with intrinsic motion and verbs are associated with extrinsic motion. Specifically, children were able to detect differences between stimuli paired with novel nouns based on intrinsic motion and stimuli paired with novel verbs based on extrinsic motion. In other words, we shed light on the different motion cues children attend to when learning nouns and verbs. Thus, children utilize motion cues in addition to static characteristics when learning nouns and verbs. Therefore, distinct types of motion information play an important role in the learning of nouns and verbs.
Title: Children attend to intrinsic motions when learning nouns.
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Name(s): Iglesias, Adam
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Kersten, Alan, Thesis advisor
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Department of Psychology
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 2005
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 41 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The present research was designed to test whether 3-year-old-English-speaking children preferentially associate novel nouns with intrinsic motion rather than extrinsic motion, as predicted by the theory of Kersten (1998). Intrinsic motion refers to the ways the parts of an object move in relation to one another. In contrast, extrinsic motion refers to the motion of an object as a whole with respect to an external reference point (e.g. another object). In two separate experiments, we demonstrated that nouns are associated with intrinsic motion and verbs are associated with extrinsic motion. Specifically, children were able to detect differences between stimuli paired with novel nouns based on intrinsic motion and stimuli paired with novel verbs based on extrinsic motion. In other words, we shed light on the different motion cues children attend to when learning nouns and verbs. Thus, children utilize motion cues in addition to static characteristics when learning nouns and verbs. Therefore, distinct types of motion information play an important role in the learning of nouns and verbs.
Identifier: 9780542297441 (isbn), 13270 (digitool), FADT13270 (IID), fau:10123 (fedora)
Degree granted: Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2005.
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Subject(s): Motion
Vocabulary--Study and teaching (Primary)
Language acquisition
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13270
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.