Modeling Individual Differences in Children’s Information Integration During Pragmatic Word Learning

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Manuel Bohn
  • Louisa S. Schmidt
  • Cornelia Schulze
  • Michael C. Frank
  • Michael Henry Tessler
Pragmatics is foundational to language use and learning. Computational cognitive models have been successfully used to predict pragmatic phenomena in adults and children – on an aggregate level. It is unclear if they can be used to predict behavior on an individual level. We address this question in children (N = 60, 3- to 5-year-olds), taking advantage of recent work on pragmatic cue integration. In Part 1, we use data from four independent tasks to estimate child-specific sensitivity parameters to three information sources: semantic knowledge, expectations about speaker informativeness, and sensitivity to common ground. In Part 2, we use these parameters to generate participant-specific trial-by-trial predictions for a new task that jointly manipulated all three information sources. The model accurately predicted children’s behavior in the majority of trials. This work advances a substantive theory of individual differences in which the primary locus of developmental variation is sensitivity to individual information sources.
Original languageEnglish
JournalOpen Mind
Volume6
Pages (from-to)311–326
Number of pages16
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16.12.2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    Research areas

  • Psychology - pragmatics, language development, individual differences, cognitive modeling

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Photodegradation of micropollutants using V-UV/UV-C processes
  2. Parametric finite element model and mechanical characterisation of electrospun materials for biomedical applications
  3. Data Practices
  4. Creating Value from in-Vehicle Data
  5. Traffic Life: Temporal Dynamics and Regulatory Dimensions in Agent-Based Transport Simulations
  6. Shepherds’ local knowledge and scientific data on the scavenging ecosystem service
  7. Agile Portfolio Management Patterns
  8. Automatic feature selection for anomaly detection
  9. (How) Can didactic research find its way into the classroom? Results from a questionnaire survey on the lesson preparation and continuing professional development of German teachers
  10. A slow-fast trait continuum at the whole community level in relation to land-use intensification
  11. Non-acceptances in context
  12. Temporal Dynamics of Ecosystem Services
  13. Combining sense of place theory with the ecosystem services concept: empirical insights and reflections from a participatory mapping study
  14. Project and Design of a Catamaran Prototype with Aerial Propulsion System
  15. Identification of Parameters and States in PMSMs
  16. The Augmented Theorist - Toward Automated Knowledge Extraction from Conceptual Models
  17. Differences in the sophistication of Value-based Management
  18. In situ synchrotron diffraction of the solidification of Mg4Y3Nd
  19. Machine Learning and Data Mining for Sports Analytics
  20. The use of pseudo-causal narratives in EU policies
  21. Knowledge Spaces of Globalization
  22. Desynchronization of the Public and the Private
  23. Global fern and lycophyte richness explained: How regional and local factors shape plot richness
  24. Recontextualizing Anthropomorphic Metaphors in Organization Studies
  25. Chronic effects of a static stretching intervention program on range of motion and tissue hardness in older adults