From new Objects to new woRds through GEstures: how sensory-motor experiences of objects and tools influence word acquisition in children

Información del proyecto

FORGE

Identificador del acuerdo de subvención: 660468

DOI

10.3030/660468

Proyecto finalizado el 28 Abril 2018

Fecha de la firma de la CE 27 Marzo 2015

Fecha de inicio 1 Febrero 2016

Fecha de finalización 31 Enero 2018

Financiado con arreglo a

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Coste total

€ 183 454,80

Aportación de la UE

€ 183 454,80

Coordinado por

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
United Kingdom

Objetivo

A key question in language studies is how children learn the meaning of new words and corresponding concepts. Developmental studies show that children’s actions promote learning about new objects and that acting on objects is closely related to early gestures’ production, which in turn accompanies vocabulary acquisition. Brain imaging studies have found activation of motor areas when people process action-related words. Together, these findings suggest a link between sensory-motor experiences, gestures and vocabulary acquisition. But how are these related? One hypothesis is that children’s manipulation of objects promotes their learning of concepts, these concepts then drive the use of iconic gestures rooted in actions with objects, as well as word learning. An alternative hypothesis is that iconic gestures scaffold vocabulary learning because gestures maintain important iconic similarity with the corresponding affordances and actions, while having communicative functions like words: thus emergence of gestures would be precursor to word learning. To-date, correlational data seems to support the first hypothesis, but existing data does not allow to clearly establish the direction of effects. The FORGE project aims to test between these hypotheses, to understand how learning new concepts (mental representations for new manipulatable objects), learning to gesture about these new tools and learning their labels are related to one another. The project uses a multi-disciplinary approach, bringing together traditional video-coding techniques from developmental psychology and psycholinguistics, and new bio-engineering sensor technology for movement analysis. As pre-school children learn new words on a daily basis, and because vocabulary is a strong predictor of academic achievement, establishing optimal conditions for learning to occur is critical to any educational setting. It is further critical to implement programmes assisting children with clinical impairments.

Ámbito científico (EuroSciVoc)

• humanidades › lenguas y literatura › estudios generales del lenguaje
• ciencias sociales › ciencias de la educación › didáctica
• ciencias naturales › informática y ciencias de la información › inteligencia artificial › visión artificial › análisis de movimiento
• ciencias sociales › psicología › psicolingüística
• ciencias sociales › psicología › psicología del desarrollo

Palabras clave

• child development
• vocabulary acquisition
• sensory-motor skills
• language
• gestures

Programa(s)

• H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions PROGRAMA PRINCIPAL
  
• H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
  

Tema(s)

• MSCA-IF-2014-EF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF)
  

Régimen de financiación

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

Convocatoria de propuestas

H2020-MSCA-IF-2014

Coordinador

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

• Aportación neta de la UEn: € 183 454,80
• Dirección: GOWER STREET ; WC1E 6BT LONDON ; Reino Unido
• Región: London › Inner London — West › Camden and City of London
• Tipo de actividad: Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
• Coste total: € 183 454,80