Journal
BRAIN AND LANGUAGE
Volume 229, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.bl.2022.105111
Keywords
Event-related potentials; Word learning; Cross-situational statistical learning; N400
Funding
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Dynamics of Language [CE140100041]
- ARC Future Fellowship [FT160100514]
- Australian Research Council [FT160100514] Funding Source: Australian Research Council
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This study examines the rapid acquisition of novel word meanings through cross-situational statistical word learning (CSWL) using event-related potentials. The findings show that novel words and familiar words elicit similar N400 effects but with different hemispheric distributions.
Cross-situational statistical word learning (CSWL) refers to the process whereby participants learn new words by tracking ambiguous word-object co-occurrences across time. This study used event-related potentials to explore the acquisition of novel word meanings via CSWL in healthy adults. After learning to associate novel auditory words (e.g., 'ket') with familiar objects (e.g., sword), participants performed a semantic judgement task where the learned novel words were paired with a familiar word belonging to either the same (e.g., dagger) or a different (e.g., harp) semantic category. As a comparison, the task also included word pairs comprising two familiar words. The analyses revealed that the unrelated novel word pairs elicited a similar N400 to that of the unrelated familiar word pairs, but with a different hemispheric distribution (left hemisphere for novel words, right hemisphere for familiar words). These findings demonstrate rapid meaning acquisition via CSWL, which is reflected at a neurophysiological level.
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