VOCABULARY ACQUISITION: EFFECT OF NEW STIMULI ON CONTROL OF RESPONSES

Abstract

The present study investigated in three experiments how children in their first years of life learn to relate new words to objects or events. The first experiment, with ten children aged between 2.5 and 4 years, investigated the behavioral effects of: a) a new picture present when a new word was dictated; and b) inclusion of the plural ending in a new word (lexical tip) when it was spoken in the presence of a set of figures of the same stimulus. Results showed that new stimuli controlled the majority of responses despite the lexical tip. Some responses of known stimuli to new spoken words were observed in the first and second experiments. Experiment 2,conducted with six children (ages from 2.2 to 3.6 years), investigated the effects of replacing known stimuli with other known pictures on responding to new spoken words. Results were similar to the first experiment: children continued to respond with known pictures to new spoken words. The third experiment was intended to investigate whether responses were modified by repositioning the comparative stimuli of four children aged from 2.7 to 4 years old. A significant reduction of responding with known pictures to new spoken words was observed. In conclusion, new stimuli controlled children’s behavior during all three experiments, and lexical tips did not control the observed responses. Key words: spoken verbal behavior, novelty, pairing with model.