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1. How Children Learn From Others: An Analysis of Selective Word Learning

   https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13415  

   Sobel, David_M; Finiasz, Zoe (July 2020, Child Development)

   One way children are remarkable learners is that they learn from others. Critically, children are selective when assessing from whom to learn, particularly in the domain of word learning. We conducted an analysis of children’s selective word learning, reviewing 63 papers on 6,525 participants. Children’s ability to engage in selective word learning appeared to be present in the youngest samples surveyed. Their more metacognitive understanding that epistemic competence indicates reliability or that others are good sources of knowledge has more of a developmental trajectory. We also found that various methodological factors used to assess children influence performance. We conclude with a synthesis of theoretical accounts of how children learn from others. 

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2. Predicting Word Learning in Children from the Performance of Computer Vision Systems

   Rane, S; Nencheva, ML; Wang, Z; Lew-Williams, C; Russakovsky, O; Griffiths, T (July 2023, Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society)

   For human children as well as machine learning systems, a key challenge in learning a word is linking the word to the visual phenomena it describes. We explore this aspect of word learn- ing by using the performance of computer vision systems as a proxy for the difficulty of learning a word from visual cues. We show that the age at which children acquire different categories of words is correlated with the performance of visual classifi- cation and captioning systems, over and above the expected effects of word frequency. The performance of the computer vision systems is correlated with human judgments of the con- creteness of words, which are in turn a predictor of children’s word learning, suggesting that these models are capturing the relationship between words and visual phenomena. 

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3. Understanding Parents’ Roles in Children’s Learning and Engagement in Informal Science Learning Sites

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.635839  

   Joy, Angelina; Law, Fidelia; McGuire, Luke; Mathews, Channing; Hartstone-Rose, Adam; Winterbottom, Mark; Rutland, Adam; Fields, Grace E.; Mulvey, Kelly Lynn (March 2021, Frontiers in Psychology)

   Informal science learning sites (ISLS) create opportunities for children to learn about science outside of the classroom. This study analyzed children’s learning behaviors in ISLS using video recordings of family visits to a zoo, children’s museum, or aquarium. Furthermore, parent behaviors, features of the exhibits and the presence of an educator were also examined in relation to children’s behaviors. Participants included 63 children (60.3% female) and 44 parents in 31 family groups. Results showed that parents’ science questions and explanations were positively related to children observing the exhibit. Parents’ science explanations were also negatively related to children’s science explanations. Furthermore, children were more likely to provide science explanations when the exhibit was not interactive. Lastly there were no differences in children’s behaviors based on whether an educator was present at the exhibit. This study provides further evidence that children’s interactions with others and their environment are important for children’s learning behaviors. 

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4. Neural Oscillations Reveal Differences in the Process of Word Learning among School-Aged Children from Lower Socioeconomic Status Backgrounds

   https://doi.org/10.1162/nol_a_00040  

   Schneider, Julie; Abel, Alyson D.; Momsen, Jacob; Melamed, Tina C.; Maguire, Mandy J. (January 2021, Neurobiology of Language)

   null (Ed.)

   Building a robust vocabulary in grade school is essential for academic success. Children from lower socioeconomic status (SES) households on average perform below their higher SES peers on word learning tasks, negatively impacting their vocabulary; however, significant variability exists within this group. Many children from low SES homes perform as well as, or better than, their higher SES peers on measures of word learning. The current study addresses what processes underlie this variability, by comparing the neural oscillations of 44 better versus worse word learners (ages 8–15 years) from lower SES households as they infer the meaning of unknown words. Better word learners demonstrated increases in theta and beta power as a word was learned, whereas worse word learners exhibited decreases in alpha power. These group differences in neural oscillatory engagement during word learning indicate there may be different strategies employed based on differences in children’s skills. Notably, children with greater vocabulary knowledge are more likely to exhibit larger beta increases, a strategy that is associated with better word learning. This sheds new light on the mechanisms that support word learning in children from low SES households. 

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5. Questions Can Answer Questions About Mechanisms of Preschoolers’ Selective Word Learning

   https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13395  

   Luchkina, Elena; Morgan, James_L; Williams, Deijah_J; Sobel, David_M (July 2020, Child Development)

   This study examined how inferences about epistemic competence and generalized labeling errors influence children’s selective word learning. Three‐ to 4‐year‐olds (N = 128) learned words from informants who asked questions about objects, mentioning either correct or incorrect labels. Such questions do not convey stark differences in informants’ epistemic competence. Inaccurate labels, however, generate error signals that can lead to weaker encoding of novel information. Preschoolers retained novel labels from both informants but were slower to respond in the Inaccurate Labeler condition. When the test procedure was not sensitive to the strength of information encoding, children performed above chance in both conditions and their response times did not differ. These results suggest that epistemic‐level inferences and error generalizations influence preschoolers’ selective word learning concurrently. 

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