LEARNING OF WORD-OBJECT RELATIONS IN INFANTS IN A SUCCESSIVE INTRODUCTION OF STIMULUS PROCEDURE

Abstract

Exclusion performance is defined as the selection of an undefined stimulus (amongst known alternatives), when an undefined sample is presented. This process is referred to as an important component in vocabulary learning in young children. Despite being a well-documented phenomenon in literature, it is necessary to understand how the presentation of new words to infants can affect learning of multiple word-object relations. The aim of this study was to determine whether the successive introduction of stimuli procedure is efficient to teach simultaneously two new word-object relations for infants. Participants were seven children (17-20 months old – three girls). Matching to sample tasks were carried out with familiar objects and names (baseline), followed by one block of training trials (reinforced exclusion trials) of two new word-object relations (successive introduction of stimuli procedure), and learning tests. All children presented exclusion performance in the first presentation of each new stimulus, confirming the occurrence of this performance in infants. The introduction of the second new relation disturbed the participants’ performance in the teaching trials, but two out of seven children showed evidence of learning in probes. Tests in extinction may have generated a deleterious effect on the infants’ performance. The successive introduction of new word-object relations can be a viable way of teaching words for young children, but it is necessary to investigate the necessary number of teaching trials and to evaluate the effects of tests in extinction for infants, since its effect can mask the learning of these participants. Keywords: responding by exclusion, vocabulary learning, successive introduction of stimuli procedure, infants.