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Category: Project

Description: This study aimed to investigate the impact of multisensory settings on children's learning of word-object and action-object associations at 12 and 24 months of age. Specifically, we examined whether the temporal alignment of words and actions influenced the acquisition of these associations. To assess learning, we utilized a preferential looking and violation of expectation task. In this task, infants and young children were presented with two distinct word-object and action-object pairings either in a synchronous or sequential manner. Our findings revealed that 2-year-olds demonstrated learning of action-object and word-object associations in the synchronous presentation group, as evidenced by their looking behavior. However, no evidence of learning was found in the younger age group. Interestingly, when exploring potential factors that might influence associative learning, we examined individual differences based on parental reports of children's vocabulary production, as well as measures of infants' word comprehension, production, gesture use, and fine motor skills. However, none of these measures explained the observed word-action-object associative learning in either of the two age groups.