Sound symbolism bootstraps infants into referential insight

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22243043
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Educational psychology
• Research Institution: Keio University
• Principal Investigator: IMAI Mutsumi 慶應義塾大学, 環境情報学部, 教授 (60255601)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): OKADA Hiroyuki 玉川大学, 工学部, 教授 (10349326) ; SAKAI Hiromu 広島大学, 教育学研究科(研究院), 教授 (50274030)
• Project Period (FY): 2010-04-01 – 2014-03-31
• Keywords: 音象徴性 / 語意学習 / 語彙発達 / 日本語教授法 / コミュニケーション支援

Research Abstract

Relating speech sound to meaning is a critical step for infants to break into language. Using EEG phase synchronization and event-related brain potentials, we show that sound symbolism helps 11-month-olds establish this link. Sound-symbolically matched shape-sound pairs (e.g., a spiky shape followed by the sound 'kipi') elicited smooth long-distance phase synchronization, suggesting effortless binding. In contrast, sound-symbolically mismatched shape-sound pairs elicited effortful communication over the left hemisphere, and increased brain potential negativity 400 ms after word onset. This suggests that infants spontaneously map speech sounds and the referent by biologically endowed multi-modal integration ability, and this ability bootstraps infants into referential insights for speech sounds and grasp the symbolic nature of words.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] How Sound Symbolism Is Processed in the Brain, A Study on Japanese Mimetic Words (2014)
  • Author(s): Kanero, J., Imai, M., Okuda, J., Okada, H., Matsuda, T.
  • Journal Title: PLoS ONE Volume: Vol.9(5) Pages: e97905
  • DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0097905
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Human Locomotion in Languages : Constraints on Moving and Meaning. Journal of Memory and Language (2014)
  • Author(s): Malt, B., Ameel, E., Imai,M., Gennari,S., Saji,N., & Majid, A.
  • Journal Title: Journal of Memory and Language Volume: Vol.74 Pages: 107-123
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.jml.2013.08.003
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] All giraffes have female-specific properties : Influence of grammatical gender on deductive reasoning about sex-specific properties in German speakers (2014)
  • Author(s): Imai, M., Schalk, L., Saalbach, H., & Okada, H.
  • Journal Title: Cognitive Science Volume: Vol.38 Pages: 514-536
  • DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12074
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Evolution of verb meanings in children and L2 adult learners through reorganization of an entire semantic domain : The case of Chinese carry/hold verbs (2013)
  • Author(s): Saji, N., & Imai, M.
  • Journal Title: Scientific Research in Reading, Special issue : Reading in Chinese Volume: Vol.17 Pages: 71-88
  • DOI: 10.1080/10888438.2012.689788
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] 幼児はいかに他者という記号をロボットに見いだすか? (2012)
  • Author(s): 高橋英之・岡田浩之
  • Journal Title: 人工知能学会誌 Volume: 27(6) Pages: 612-618
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Grammatical gender and inferences about biological properties in German-speaking children (2012)
  • Author(s): Saalbach, H., Imai, M. & Shalk, L.
  • Journal Title: Cognitive Science Volume: Vol.36 Pages: 1251-1267
  • DOI: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2012.01251.x
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] The Relation between Linguistic Categories and Cognition : The case of numeral classifiers (2012)
  • Author(s): Saalbach, H. & Imai, M.
  • Journal Title: Language and Cognitive Processes Volume: 27 Pages: 381-428
  • DOI: 10.1080/01690965.2010.546585
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Who is crossing where? : Infants' discrimination of figures and grounds in events (2011)
  • Author(s): Goksun, T., Hirsh-Pasek, K, Golinkoff, R. M., Imai, M., Konishi, H., & Okada, H.
  • Journal Title: Cognition Volume: 121 Pages: 176-195
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2011.07.002
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Word learning does not end at fast-mapping : Evolution of verb meanings through reorganization of an entire semantic domain (2011)
  • Author(s): Saji, N., Imai, M., Saalbach, H., Zhang, Y., Shu, H., & Okada, H.
  • Journal Title: Cognition Volume: 118 Pages: 45-61
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2010.09.007
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Japanese sound symbolism facilitates word learning in English speaking children (2011)
  • Author(s): Kantartzis, K., Imai, M. & Kita, S.
  • Journal Title: Cognitive Science Volume: 35 Pages: 575-586
  • DOI: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01169.x
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Object Similarity Bootstraps Young Children to Action-Based Verb Extensions (2011)
  • Author(s): Haryu, E., Imai, M., & Okada, H.
  • Journal Title: Child Development Volume: 82 Pages: 674-686
  • DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01567.x
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] 臨界期神話の誤謬と英語教育 (2014)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Organizer: 第26回発達心理学会日本学術会議・発達心理学分科会企画公開シンポジウム早期教育の光と影 ―英語早期教育は是か非か?―
  • Year and Date: 2014-03-21
  • Invited
• [Presentation] 母語と外国語の語彙習得のメカニズム (2014)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Organizer: HLC春季セミナー招待講演
  • Place of Presentation: 立教大学池袋キャンパス
  • Year and Date: 2014-03-18
  • Invited
• [Presentation] The Sound-Symbolism Bootstrapping Hypothesis for Language Acquisition and Language Evolution (2014)
  • Author(s): Mutsumi Imai
  • Organizer: Invited lecture, Institute of Linguistics, National Taiwan University
  • Place of Presentation: Taipei City, Taiwan
  • Year and Date: 2014-03-03
  • Invited
• [Presentation] ことばの学習における推論―帰納・演繹推論とアブダクション (2014)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Organizer: シンポジウム「論理と感性の新たな学際研究に向けて」慶應義塾大学論理と感性センター、思考と行動判断研究拠点共催シンポジウム
  • Place of Presentation: 慶應大学三田キャンパス
  • Year and Date: 2014-02-05
  • Invited
• [Presentation] 言葉の意味とは何か-子どもが教えてくれること (2013)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Organizer: 第1回コトノハカフェ
  • Place of Presentation: バルト(東京・阿佐ヶ谷)
  • Year and Date: 2013-11-30
  • Invited
• [Presentation] 認知学習論を学ぶ (2013)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Organizer: 第6回FD(Faulty Development)研修会
  • Place of Presentation: 札幌保健医療大学
  • Year and Date: 2013-11-10
  • Invited
• [Presentation] こどもの思考力を育むことばかけ (2013)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Organizer: 平成25年度京都市保育士会第研修会
  • Place of Presentation: 京都光華女子大学
  • Year and Date: 2013-10-26
  • Invited
• [Presentation] 語彙習得における記号接地問題――子どもとL2学習者はどのように語彙システムを構築するのか (2013)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Organizer: 言語処理(NLP)若手の会招待講演
  • Place of Presentation: 東京大学駒場キャンパス
  • Year and Date: 2013-09-02
  • Invited
• [Presentation] 言語力と思考力 (2013)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Organizer: 岐阜県高等学校国語教育研究会講演
  • Place of Presentation: 岐阜県総合教育センター
  • Year and Date: 2013-08-21
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Cross-Linguistically Shared and Language-Specific Sound Symbolism for Motion : An Exploratory Data Mining Approach [査読有] (2013)
  • Author(s): Saji, N., Akita, K., Imai, M., Kantartzis, K. & Kita, S.
  • Organizer: the 35th Annual meeting of Cognitive Science Society(Cogsci2013)
  • Place of Presentation: Berlin. German
  • Year and Date: 2013-08-03
• [Presentation] ヒト特有の推論の起源 (2013)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Organizer: 主催国際高等研プロジェクト「心の起源」および日本学術会議心理学・教育学委員会心の先端研究と心理学専門教育分科会主催公開シンポジウム「心の先端研究の地平」招待講演
  • Place of Presentation: 京都大学霊長類研究所
  • Year and Date: 2013-07-06
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Care-takers' Gradual Incorporation of Mimetic Words in Sentential Structures [査読有] (2013)
  • Author(s): Ohba, M., Saji, N., Imai, M., Matsui, T.
  • Organizer: Poster presentation at the SRCD 2013 Biennial Meeting
  • Place of Presentation: Seattle, Washington, USA
  • Year and Date: 2013-04-20
• [Presentation] The process of continuous reorganization of a complex semantic domain as children learn new words : Learning of carry/hold verbs in Japanese [査読有] (2013)
  • Author(s): Saji, N., Imai, M.
  • Organizer: Poster presentation at the SRCD 2013 Biennial Meeting
  • Place of Presentation: Seattle,Washington, USA
  • Year and Date: 2013-04-18
• [Presentation] Sound symbolism : Neural representation and relation to language development (2013)
  • Author(s): Mutsumi Imai
  • Organizer: Invited Talk presented at CNSR, University of Paris, Descartes
  • Place of Presentation: Centre Biomedical des Saints Peres, Paris
  • Year and Date: 2013-03-11
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Gaze-contingencyパラダイムを用いた乳児における行為の意図性の評価 [査読有] (2012)
  • Author(s): 宮﨑美智子,高橋英之,岡田浩之,大森隆司
  • Organizer: 日本認知科学会第29回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 仙台国際センター
  • Year and Date: 2012-12-14
• [Presentation] The relation between language and thought : count/mass syntax and the notion of individuation (2012)
  • Author(s): Mutsumi Imai
  • Organizer: Talk presented at the research seminar at the Department of Linguistics
  • Place of Presentation: National Taiwan University
  • Year and Date: 2012-11-23
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Sound symbolism bootstraps language learning (2012)
  • Author(s): Mutsumi Imai
  • Organizer: Talk presented at the research seminar at the Department of Psychology
  • Place of Presentation: National Taiwan University
  • Year and Date: 2012-11-23
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Linguistic experience alters the processing of sound symbolism [査読有] (2012)
  • Author(s): Asano, M., Kitajo, K., Thierry, G., Kita, S., Okada, H., & Imai, M.
  • Organizer: Poster to be presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society
  • Place of Presentation: Minneapolis, USA
  • Year and Date: 2012-11-16
• [Presentation] The path from perceptual categories to conceptual categories : The role of language (2012)
  • Author(s): Mutsumi Imai
  • Organizer: Talk presented at the invited symposium. " Prediction and Creation : Basis of Model-based Decision-making Process. "(予測と創造:モデルベース的意思決定プロセスの基礎)日本心理学会第76回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 専修大学
  • Year and Date: 2012-09-13
  • Invited
• [Presentation] 予測と創造 : モデルベース的意思決定プロセスの基礎 [査読無] (2012)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Organizer: 日本心理学会第76回大会シンポジウム指定討論
  • Place of Presentation: 専修大学
  • Year and Date: 2012-09-09
• [Presentation] カテゴリーの発見、創造、修正 : ことばの意味の習得過程 (2012)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Organizer: 認知言語学会第13回全国大会招待シンポジウム意味の獲得・変容・喪失 : 認知言語学と関連分野との対話
  • Place of Presentation: 大東文化大学板橋キャンパス
  • Year and Date: 2012-09-09
  • Invited
• [Presentation] 音象徴と言語の起源 (2012)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Organizer: 招待ワークショップ「進化言語学の展開」日本進化学会第14回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 首都大学東京
  • Year and Date: 2012-08-21
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Does word order influence non-verbal event description by speakers of OS language? [査読有] (2012)
  • Author(s): Sakai, H., Kubo, T., Ono, H., Sato, M., & Koizumi, M.
  • Organizer: CogSci2012
  • Year and Date: 2012-08-04
• [Presentation] An ERP study on L2 grammatical aspect processing inJapanese [査読有] (2012)
  • Author(s): Long, S., Tsuyuguchi, Y., Sato, M., & Sakai, H.
  • Organizer: CogSci2012
  • Year and Date: 2012-08-04
• [Presentation] How Function Assignment and Word Order are Determined : Evidence from Structural Priming Effects in Japanese Sentence Production [査読有] (2012)
  • Author(s): Deng, Y., Ono, H., & Sakai, H.
  • Organizer: CogSci2012
  • Year and Date: 2012-08-03
• [Presentation] Developmental Adjustment of Iconic Language in Care-Takers' Input [査読有] (2012)
  • Author(s): Ohba, M., Saji, N., Imai, M. & Matsui, T.
  • Organizer: Poster presented at the 34th annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
  • Place of Presentation: Sapporo, Japan
  • Year and Date: 2012-08-03
• [Presentation] Progressive alignment in verb learning [査読有] (2012)
  • Author(s): Imai, M., Haryu, E. & Okada, H.
  • Organizer: Paper presented at the 34the annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
  • Place of Presentation: Sapporo, Japan
  • Year and Date: 2012-08-02
• [Presentation] The Internal Structures of Sound-Symbolic Systems : The Universal and Language-Specific Portions of Sound Symbolism Poster [査読有] (2012)
  • Author(s): Saji, N., Akita, K., Imai, M., Kantartzis, K. & Kita, S
  • Organizer: the 34th annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
  • Place of Presentation: Sapporo, Japan
  • Year and Date: 2012-08-02
• [Presentation] Sound symbolism paves the way to language development in preverbal infants (2012)
  • Author(s): Mutsumi Imai
  • Organizer: Invited talk presented at the symposium "Interactive Brain Dynamics for Decision Making and Communication"(意思決定とコミュニケーションの脳ダイナミクスと相互作用)包括脳合同ワークショップ
  • Place of Presentation: 仙台国際センター
  • Year and Date: 2012-07-27
  • Invited
• [Presentation] 音象徴の心と脳のメカニズム (2012)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Organizer: 日本言語科学会招待講演
  • Place of Presentation: 名古屋大学
  • Year and Date: 2012-07-01
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Preverbal infants are sensitive to sound symbolism : Evidence from an ERP study. Paper presented at the symposium " Relation between sound symbolism and infants' multi-modal learning" [査読有] (2012)
  • Author(s): Asano, M., Imai, M., Kita, S., Okada, H., Kitajo, K., & Thierry, G.
  • Organizer: 2012 International Conference on Infant Studies (ICIS)
  • Place of Presentation: Minneapolis, USA
  • Year and Date: 2012-06-07
• [Presentation] 言語習得における音象徴の役割 (2012)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Organizer: 関西言語学会招待講演
  • Place of Presentation: 江南女子大学
  • Year and Date: 2012-06-03
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Evolution of verb meanings in children and L2 adult learners through reorganization of an entire semantic domain : The case of Chinese carry/hold verbs (2012)
  • Author(s): Mutsumi Imai
  • Organizer: CLDC2012(The 6th conference on Language, Discourse and Cognition)
  • Place of Presentation: National Taiwan University
  • Year and Date: 2012-05-05
  • Invited
• [Presentation] The Role of STS in mimetic-word processing : Sound symbolism or biological motion? [査読有] (2012)
  • Author(s): Kanero,J., Imai,M., Okada,H., & Matsuda,T.
  • Organizer: Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (EVOLANG)
  • Place of Presentation: Kyoto,Japan
  • Year and Date: 2012-03-15
• [Presentation] Sound symbolism helps infants' word learning [査読有] (2012)
  • Author(s): Imai,M., Asano,M., Miyazaki,M., Okada,H., Yeung,H., Kitajo,K., Thierry,G., & Kita,S.
  • Organizer: Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on the Evolution of Language(EVOLANG)
  • Place of Presentation: Kyoto, Japan
  • Year and Date: 2012-03-14
• [Presentation] Eleven month-old infants detect sound symbolism : Evidence from an ERP study [査読有] (2011)
  • Author(s): Imai,M., Asano,M., Arata,M., Kita,S., & Okada,H.
  • Organizer: Poster presented at the 36th Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD)
  • Place of Presentation: Boston , USA
  • Year and Date: 2011-11-05
• [Presentation] Universal Sound Symbolism Facilitates Verb Learning and Generalization in Three-Year Olds [査読有] (2011)
  • Author(s): Kita,S., Imai,M., & Kantartzis,K.
  • Organizer: Paper presented at the 12th International Congress For the Study of Child Language (IASCL)
  • Place of Presentation: Montreal , Canada
  • Year and Date: 2011-07-21
• [Book] 言葉をおぼえるしくみ:母語から外国語まで (2014)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ,針生悦子
  • Total Pages: 409
  • Publisher: 筑摩書店ちくま学芸文庫
• [Book] ことばの発達の謎を解く (2013)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ
  • Total Pages: 239
  • Publisher: 筑摩書店ちくまプリマー新書
• [Book] 語彙獲得における類像性の効果の検討:親の発話と子どもの理解の観点から、篠原和子・宇野良子「(編)『オノマトペ研究の射程:近づく音と意味』 (2013)
  • Author(s): 佐治伸郎,今井むつみ
  • Total Pages: 416(151-166)
  • Publisher: ひつじ書房
• [Book] The role of language and culture in universality and diversity of human concepts. In M.Gelfand, CY. Chiu,& Y. Hong (Eds.) (2013)
  • Author(s): Mutsumi Imai & Takahiko Masuda
  • Total Pages: 358
  • Publisher: Advances in Culture and Psychology, Vol.3. Oxford University Press
• [Book] なるほど!赤ちゃん学:ここまでわかった赤ちゃんの不思議 (2012)
  • Author(s): 宮崎美智子,梶川祥世,村井千寿子,高橋英之,岡田浩之
  • Total Pages: 222(190-217)
  • Publisher: 新潮社
• [Book] 新・人が学ぶということ―認知学習論からの視点 (2012)
  • Author(s): 今井むつみ,岡田浩之,野島久雄
  • Total Pages: 249
  • Publisher: 北樹出版
• [Remarks] 報道関連等:2013年6月11日 NHKクローズアップ現代
• [Remarks] 報道関連等:2013年5月4日朝日新聞教育・生活欄
• [Remarks] アウトリーチ活動(Workshop開催):2013年12月13・14日 Sound Symbolism Workshop 2013
• [Remarks] アウトリーチ活動(Workshop開催):2012年8月6・7日 Sound Symbolism Workshop 2012
• [Remarks]
  • URL: http://cogpsy.sfc.keio.ac.jp/imai/