2019 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
How do Japanese-learning infants learn new words from fluent speech?
| Project/Area Number |
18K13379
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| Research Institution | Institute of Physical and Chemical Research |
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Principal Investigator |
西林 レオ竜起 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 脳神経科学研究センター, 研究員 (10814204)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2020-03-31
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| Keywords | ERP / Japanese / 6-month-olds / segmentation / social interaction |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The research project aimed at determining how Japanese-learning infants process words within the speech stream before they hit their first anniversary.
Two experiments were conducted. The first one behaviorally tested 16 6-month-olds. We did not show any evidence that they were able to segment bisyllabic bimoraic words. Since the behavioral method might have been the cause of not seeing the expected results, we conducted a second experiment, using ERPs, on 31 participants. The ERP analyses showed that Japanese-learning 6-month-olds are able to recognize and extract word form from the speech stream. This is the first time that segmentation abilities are observed this young in Japanese infants. It appears that segmentation is enhanced when the parents are engaged in social interactions.
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