Ithaca College

Skott Freedman, assistant professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, published a research study titled "The influence of neighborhood density on word learning" in issue 9 of The Linguistics Journal. 

Abstract: 
Previous studies exploring the role of neighborhood density (ND) in word learning have been predominantly conducted as co-investigations with phonotactic probability (PP), and typically only with children. In order to more clearly delineate whether lexical competition or facilitation operates during word acquisition across development, the sole influence of ND on word learning was examined for children and adults using the same task. Thirty-nine typically-developing children and 46 typical adults were presented with a narrative containing eight nonwords which varied in ND, but were controlled for PP.

Learning of phonological and lexical representations was measured at four points in time: at baseline, following one and four exposures, and 10 minutes following task completion. Findings indicated that at baseline, both groups more accurately repeated nonwords with high versus low ND. However, during learning, children more accurately learned nonwords with low versus high ND; no differences emerged for adults. Results are interpreted under an account of lexical competition for child participants.