2-028 - The Organization of Knowledge: Development and Modeling of Early Semantic Networks

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Organized knowledge about word and object meanings in semantic memory has long been proposed to have a critical influence on cognition, yet the development of organized semantic networks and the mechanisms that give rise to them remain poorly understood. This symposium will feature different methodologies (empirical studies, a training study, computational modeling), across different ages and populations (infants, toddlers, children, late-talkers) to elucidate the development of semantic networks in children.

The first paper examines age-related and experience-driven changes in children’s semantic networks, showing that, over developmental time and as a result of experience, children’s semantic networks become more differentiated both across- and within-domains of knowledge. The second paper examines the long-term effects of early individual differences in semantic networks, and shows that toddlers with more efficiently connected semantic networks are less likely to show language delays in early childhood. The third paper presents an intervention study targeting semantic networks in typical- and late-talking children, exploring how the child’s current semantic network impacts their likelihood of acquiring new words. The last paper uses computational modeling to examine semantic network growth in different languages, and suggests that children add new words to their semantic networks based on the patterns of connectivity afforded by their word learning environments.

Together, these papers push forward our understanding of the early development of semantic networks, and provide a unifying framework for conceptualizing the emergence of this critical skill.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chair

• Catarina Vales, Carnegie Mellon University

Individual Presentations

• Lumping and Splitting: Age-related and Experience-driven Differentiation of Children’s Semantic Networks - Presenting Author: Catarina Vales, Carnegie Mellon University; Non-Presenting Author: Anna Fisher, Carnegie Mellon University

• Can Lexico-semantic Structure in Productive Vocabulary at 18 Months Predict Language Outcomes at Age 3? - Presenting Author: Arielle Borovsky, Purdue University

• A Model-based Vocabulary Structure Intervention for Typically-developing and Late Talkers - Presenting Author: Eliana Colunga, University of Colorado-Boulder; Non-Presenting Author: Nicole Beckage, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Non-Presenting Author: Jennifer Weber, University of Colorado-Boulder

• The Growth of Children’s Semantic and Phonological Networks: Insight From 10 Languages - Presenting Author: Abdellah Fourtassi, Stanford University; Non-Presenting Author: Yuan Bian, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Non-Presenting Author: Michael C. Frank, Stanford University