Biomedical subjects

Holly L Storkel

Publications and source records attributed to Holly L Storkel.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Individual differences in the influence of phonological characteristics on expressive vocabulary development by young children.

The current study attempts to differentiate effects of phonotactic probability (i.e. the likelihood of occurrence of a sound sequence), neighbourhood density (i.e. the number of phonologically similar words), word frequency, and word length on expressive vocabulary development by young children. Naturalistic conversational samples for three children (age 1;4-3; 1) were obtained from CHILDES. In a backward regression analysis, phonotactic probability, neighbourhood density, word frequency, and word length were entered as possible predictors of ages of first production of words for each child. Results showed that the factors affecting first production of words varied across children and across word types. Specifically, word length affected ages of first production for all three children, whereas the other three variables affected only one child each. The implications of these findings for models of expressive vocabulary development are discussed.

Child Language↗

PubMed2006

Differentiating phonotactic probability and neighborhood density in adult word learning.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to differentiate effects of phonotactic probability, the likelihood of occurrence of a sound sequence, and neighborhood density, the number of words that sound similar to a given word, on adult word learning. A second purpose was to determine what aspect of word learning (viz., triggering learning, formation of an initial representation, or integration with existing representations) was influenced by each variable. METHOD: Thirty-two adults were exposed to 16 nonwords paired with novel objects in a story context. The nonwords orthogonally varied in phonotactic probability and neighborhood density. Learning was measured following 1, 4, and 7 exposures in a picture-naming task. Partially correct (i.e., 2 of 3 phonemes correct) and completely correct responses (i.e., 3 of 3 phonemes correct) were analyzed together and independently to examine emerging and partial representations of new words versus complete and accurate representations of new words. RESULTS: Analysis of partially correct and completely correct responses combined showed that adults learned a lower proportion of high-probability nonwords than low-probability nonwords (i.e., high-probability disadvantage) and learned a higher proportion of high-density nonwords than low-density nonwords (i.e., high-density advantage). Separate analysis of partially correct responses yielded an effect of phonotactic probability only, whereas analysis of completely correct responses yielded an effect of neighborhood density only. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that phonological and lexical processing influence different aspects of word learning. In particular, phonotactic probability may aid in triggering new learning, whereas neighborhood density may influence the integration of new lexical representations with existing representations.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

A comparison of homonym and novel word learning: the role of phonotactic probability and word frequency.

This study compares homonym learning to novel word learning by three- to four-year-old children to determine whether homonyms are learned more rapidly or more slowly than novel words. In addition, the role of form characteristics in homonym learning is examined by manipulating phonotactic probability and word frequency. Thirty-two children were exposed to homonyms and novel words in a story with visual support and learning was measured in two tasks: referent identification; picture naming. Results showed that responses to homonyms were as accurate as responses to novel words in the referent identification task. In contrast, responses to homonyms were more accurate than responses to novel words in the picture-naming task. Furthermore, homonyms composed of common sound sequences were named more accurately than those composed of rare sound sequences. The influence of word frequency was less straightforward. These results may be inconsistent with a one-to-one form-referent bias in word learning.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2004

The emerging lexicon of children with phonological delays: phonotactic constraints and probability in acquisition.

The effects of phonotactic constraints (i.e., the status of a sound as correctly or incorrectly articulated) and phonotactic probability (i.e., the likelihood of a sound sequence) on lexical acquisition have been investigated independently. This study investigated the interactive influence of phonotactic constraints and phonotactic probability on lexical acquisition in 3 groups of children: children with functional phonological delays (PD), phonology-matched, younger, typically developing children (PM), and age-/vocabulary-matched typically developing peers (AVM). Sixty-eight children participated in a multitrial word-learning task involving nonwords varying in phonotactic constraints (IN vs. OUT) and phonotactic probability (common vs. rare). Correct and error responses were analyzed. Results indicated that OUT sound sequences were learned more rapidly than IN sound sequences. This suggests that OUT sounds may be salient because they represent only a small subset of the child's sound system. The effect of phonotactic probability varied across groups: Children with PD showed a common sound sequence disadvantage, younger PM children showed a common sound sequence advantage, and AVM children showed no effect. Moreover, error analyses indicated that children with PD had particular difficulty creating lexical representations and associations between lexical and semantic representations when learning common sound sequences. Children with PD may rely more heavily on lexical representations to learn new words or may have difficulty learning common sound sequences because of the high degree of similarity between these sequences and other known words. Finally, the effect of phonotactic probability was consistent across IN and OUT sound sequences, suggesting that the lexical representation of both correctly articulated and misarticulated words is based on the adult-target pronunciation.

Articulation Disorders↗

PubMed2004

Methods for minimizing the confounding effects of word length in the analysis of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density.

Recent research suggests that phonotactic probability (the likelihood of occurrence of a sound sequence) and neighborhood density (the number of words phonologically similar to a given word) influence spoken language processing and acquisition across the lifespan in both normal and clinical populations. The majority of research in this area has tended to focus on controlled laboratory studies rather than naturalistic data such as spontaneous speech samples or elicited probes. One difficulty in applying current measures of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density to more naturalistic samples is the significant correlation between these variables and word length. This study examines several alternative transformations of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density as a means of reducing or eliminating this correlation with word length. Computational analyses of the words in a large database and reanalysis of archival data supported the use of z scores for the analysis of phonotactic probability as a continuous variable and the use of median transformation scores for the analysis of phonotactic probability as a dichotomous variable. Neighborhood density results were less clear with the conclusion that analysis of neighborhood density as a continuous variable warrants further investigation to differentiate the utility of z scores in comparison to median transformation scores. Furthermore, balanced dichotomous coding of neighborhood density was difficult to achieve, suggesting that analysis of neighborhood density as a dichotomous variable should be approached with caution. Recommendations for future application and analyses are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Learning new words II: Phonotactic probability in verb learning.

Phonotactic probability, a measure of the likelihood of occurrence of a sound sequence, appears to facilitate noun learning (H. L. Storkel, 2001). Nouns and verbs, however, tend to differ in rate of acquisition, indicating that word-learning mechanisms may differ across grammatical class. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effect of phonotactic probability on verb learning. Thirty-four typically developing preschool children participated in a multitrial word-learning task involving nonwords varying in phonotactic probability paired with unfamiliar actions. Multiple measures of word learning were obtained at increasing numbers of exposures. Correct responses were analyzed to examine rate of word learning. Results paralleled those of the previous noun-learning study, with common sound sequences being learned more rapidly than rare sound sequences. The results are interpreted in relation to the effect of distributional regularities on acquisition and the reported discrepancy between noun and verb learning in English.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2002

Restructuring of similarity neighbourhoods in the developing mental lexicon.

Previous evidence suggests that the structure of similarity neighbourhoods in the developing mental lexicon may differ from that of the fully developed lexicon. The similarity relationships used to organize words into neighbourhoods was investigated in 20 pre-school children (age 3;7 to 5;11) using a two alternative forced-choice classification task. Children classified the similarity of test words relative to a standard word to determine neighbourhood membership. The similarity relationship between the test and standard words varied orthogonally in terms of type of similarity and position of overlap. Standard words were drawn from neighbourhoods differing in density. Results showed that dense neighbourhoods were organized by phoneme similarity in the onset + nucleus or rhyme positions of overlap. In contrast, sparse neighbourhoods appeared to be organized by phoneme similarity in the onset + nucleus, but manner similarity in the rhyme. These results are integrated with previous findings from infants and adults to propose a developmental course of change in the mental lexicon.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMed2002

Markedness and the grammar in lexical diffusion of fricatives.

This paper examines the contributions of markedness and a child's grammar to the process of lexical diffusion in phonological acquisition. Archival data from 19 preschoolers with functional phonological delays were submitted to descriptive analyses of productive sound change in fricatives. Children's presenting fricative inventory, the fricatives newly learned, and their position of occurrence were varied, with word frequency and neighbourhood density measured. Results indicated that lexical diffusion of fricatives occurred differentially by word position. Positional, featural and structural markedness further converged such that change in unmarked structure of any type was implemented in low frequency words. A child's presenting fricative inventory was not directly affiliated with systematic patterns of diffusion. These results have clinical applications for the evaluation of productive sound change and theoretical implications for deterministic models of lexical diffusion and processing models of word recognition.

Child↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Do children still pick and choose? The relationship between phonological knowledge and lexical acquisition beyond 50 words.

Previous studies document an influence of phonological knowledge on word learning that differs across development. Specifically, children with expressive lexicons of fewer than 50 words learn words composed of IN sounds more rapidly than those composed of OUT sounds. In contrast, preschool children with larger expressive lexicons show the reverse effect. The goal of the current study was to provide a re-analysis of existing data to determine if this discrepancy across studies may be related to how phonological knowledge has been defined. This study defines knowledge on a continuum from most to more to less. Results showed a continuous inverse relationship between phonological knowledge and word learning by preschool children. Specifically, most phonological knowledge was associated with poorest word learning, more knowledge with intermediate word learning, and less knowledge with best word learning. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Child, Preschool↗