Researchers have been reporting temperament-language correlations in infants for 10 years. However, in order to identify directions of effects between temperament and language, methodologies besides correlations need to be developed. The “competition attention paradigm” is an effort to sidestep some of the direction-of-effect issues by asking infants to learn novel words in the context of environmental distractions designed to tap into children’s temperaments. The purpose of the present study was to explore whether environmental distracters would differentially impact 15-month-olds’ novel wordlearning as a function of children’s temperamental profiles. Twenty-eight 15-month-olds were asked to learn 4 novel words. Novel word learning consisted of initially familiarizing children with two novel objects, and then mapping a novel label to only one of the novel objects five times. Novel word comprehension was tested by asking children to select the newly-labeled object from the pair of novel objects across 4 test trials. A remotely-controlled mechanical spider competed for children’s attention during object familiarization on two of the words. Half the children were distracted on the first two words, half were distracted on the last two. Temperament was assessed via parental reporting using the Early Child Behavior Questionnaire. The environmental distractions did not impact children’s word-learning directly. However, order of distraction presentation did [F(1, 23) = 7.16, p = .014], such that children who were distracted on the first two words performed higher overall than children who were distracted on the last two. Results involving temperament were complex, yielding many significant interaction effects with factors impacting children’s word-learning. For example, children high in fear demonstrated better word-learning in the absence of the spider than in its presence, whereas the spider had no effect on low-fear children, but only when learning the first word in the pair [F(1, 23) = 5.20, p = .032]. Other temperament factors found to impact novel word-learning included attentional focus, cuddliness, impulsivity, frustration, and high intensity pleasure. The results of the present investigation contribute to a growing body of research linking temperament to word learning. The competition attention paradigm suggest ways through which word learning may be impacted by dimensions of temperament. Although not presentable here due to space limitations, the pattern of results also points to attentional focus as playing a central moderating role over other dimensions of temperament. Finally, the present results are the first to link temperament to language acquisition at 15 months.

Vid flertalet studier har det framkommit att ordförrådets storlek och förmågan till nonordsrepetition påvisar samband med nyordsinlärning. De prosodiska egenskapernas inverkan vid nyordsinlärning är emellertid inte lika studerad. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka hur barn mellan 4:5 och 6:0 år med typisk språkutveckling presterar på nyordsinlärning i relation till ordförråd och repetition av nonord samt att utforska vilken inverkan prosodiska egenskaper har på förmågan till nyordsinlärning. I studien deltog 15 barn vilkas resultat på nyorden, ordförrådstestningen och nonordsrepetitionen uträknades. Nyordsinlärningsuppgiften bestod av sex ord vilka sammankopplades med sex olika föremål. Nyorden matchades i par med avseende på en åtskiljande prosodisk egenskap mellan dem: antingen antal stavelser, betoning eller ordaccent. Inga signifikanta korrelationer mellan nyordsinlärning, ordförråd och nonordsrepetition kunde påvisas. Det framkom dock att korrelationen mellan ålder och nonordsrepetition var nära signifikans och indikerade att ökad ålder gav ett högre resultat på nonordsrepetitionen. Gällande de prosodiska egenskapernas relation till nyordsinlärning upptäcktes en signifikant skillnad i betoningsplacering, nyord med betoning på den finala stavelsen fick högst resultat. Barnen lärde sig också trestaviga ord i större utsträckning än tvåstaviga ord. Studien implicerar att betoning och ordlängd verkar ha viss betydelse för nyordsinlärning i kontrast till ordaccent, medan det inte kan påvisas några föreliggande korrelationer mellan nyordsinlärning, ordförråd och nonordsrepetition. / Several studies have shown that vocabulary size and nonword repetition ability correlate with novel word learning. The impact of prosodic features on novel word learning has, however, not been studied extensively. The purpose of this study was to examine how children aged 4:5–6:0 with typical language development perform on novel word learning, vocabulary and nonword repetition and to explore what impact prosodic features have on the ability to learn novel words. The study involved 15 children whose performance on the novel word learning task, vocabulary testing and nonword repetition was calculated. The novel word learning task consisted of six words which were connected to six different items. The novel words were matched in pairs differing by only one prosodic feature: either the number of syllables, stress or tonal word accent. No significant correlations between the novel word learning, vocabulary and nonword repetition were found. However, the correlation between age and nonword repetition reached near significance, which indicated that increased age gave a higher result on the nonword repetition. Regarding how the prosodic features related to the novel word learning, a significant difference between stress placements was detected. Novel words with stress on the final syllable were easier to learn. The children also achieved a higher result on the three syllable words than the two syllable words. The study implies that stress and word length seem to play a somewhat important role for novel word learning in contrast to tonal word accent, while it appears to be no relation between novel word learning, vocabulary and nonword repetition.

Bilinguals have the sole option of conversing in one language in spite of knowing two languages. The question of how bilinguals alternate between their two languages, activating and deactivating one language, is not well understood. In the current study, we investigated the development of this process by researching bilingual children's abilities to selectively integrate lexical tone based on its relevance in the language being used. In particular, the current study sought to determine the effects of global conversation-level cues versus local (within-word phonotactic) cues on children's tone integration in newly learned words. Words were taught to children via a conversational narrative, and word recognition was investigated using the intermodal preferential-looking paradigm. Children were tested on recognition of words with stimuli that were either matched or mismatched in tone in both English and Mandarin conversations. Results demonstrated that 3- to 4-year-olds did not adapt their interpretation of lexical tone changes to the language being spoken. In contrast, 4- to 5-year-olds were able to do so when supported by informative within-word cues. Results suggest that preschool children are capable of selectively activating a single language given word-internal cues to language.

Les avantages liés à la formation musicale transfèrent au traitement du langage, et à certaines fonctions perceptives et cognitives. Nous examinons si cette formation facilite aussi l'apprentissage de mots nouveaux au long de la vie. Les enfants «musiciens» et les jeunes musiciens professionnels surpassent les participants de contrôle dans une série d’expériences, avec une plasticité cérébrale plus rapide, et une connectivité fonctionnelle plus forte, mesurées par électroencéphalographie. Les résultats des musiciens plus âgés sont moins clairs, suggérant un impact limité de la formation musicale sur le déclin cognitif. Enfin, les jeunes musiciens ont une meilleure mémoire à long terme des nouveaux mots, ce qui contribuerait à expliquer l’avantage observé. Ces effets de transfert de la formation musicale au niveau sémantique et de la mémoire à long terme révèlent l’importance des fonctions cognitives générales et ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives pour l’éducation et la rééducation. / Based on results evidencing music training-related advantages on speech processing, perceptive and cognitive functions, we examine whether music training facilitates novel word learning throughout the lifespan. We show that musically-trained children and young professional musicians outperform controls in a series of experiments, with faster brain plasticity and stronger functional connectivity, as measured by electroencephalography. By contrast, advantages for old adult musicians are less clear-cut, suggesting a limited impact of music training to counteract cognitive decline. Finally, young musicians show better long-term memory for novel words, which possibly contributes, along with better auditory perception and attention, to their advantage in word learning. By showing transfer effects from music training to semantic processing and long-term memory, results reveal the importance of domain-general cognitive functions and open new perspectives for education and rehabilitation.