Nadja Althaus

Labels direct infants' attention to commonalities during novel category learning

Recent studies have provided evidence that labeling can influence the outcome of infants’ visual categorization. However, what exactly happens during learning remains unclear. Using eye-tracking, we examined infants’ attention to object parts during learning. Our analysis of looking behaviors during learning provide insights going beyond merely observing the learning outcome. Both labeling and non-labeling phrases facilitated category formation in 12-month-olds but not 8-month-olds (Experiment 1). Non-linguistic sounds did not produce this effect (Experiment 2). Detailed analyses of infants’ looking patterns during learning revealed that only infants who heard labels exhibited a rapid focus on the object part successive exemplars had in common. Although other linguistic stimuli may also be beneficial for learning, it is therefore concluded that labels have a unique impact on categorization.

Categorization in infancy: labeling induces a persisting focus on commonalities

Abstract Recent studies with infants and adults demonstrate a facilitative role of labels in object categorization. A common interpretation is that labels highlight commonalities between objects. However, direct evidence for such a mechanism is lacking. Using a novel object category with spatially separate features that are either of low or high variability across the stimulus set, we tracked 12‐month‐olds’ attention to object features during learning and at test. Learning occurred in both conditions, but what was learned depended on whether or not labels were heard. A detailed analysis of eye movements revealed that infants in the two conditions employed different object processing strategies. In the silent condition, looking patterns were governed exclusively by the variability of object parts. In the label condition, infants’ categorization performance was linked to their relative attention to commonalities. Moreover, the commonality focus persisted after learning even in the absence of labels. These findings constitute the first experimental evidence that labels induce a persistent focus on commonalities.

Timing matters: the impact of label synchrony on infant categorisation.

Highlights • We report an eye tracking study with 12-month-olds learning a novel category.• Synchronous labels lead to a decrease in object-level novelty preference.• Detailed eye-tracking data reveal that this is not due to overshadowing.• Increased load appears to shift looking towards familiarity preference.• Our findings reconcile previous contradictory results on the impact of labelling.

Erratum to "Modeling cross-modal interactions in early word learning" [Dec 13 288-297]

In the above paper (ibid., vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 288-297, Dec. 2013), Fig. 4 was mistakenly misrepresented. The current correct Fig. 4 is presented here.

Early language as multimodal learning

We introduce a model of word learning in infants based on cross-modal interactions. Our model employs an architecture consisting of two Self-organizing maps (SOMs), representing the visual and auditory modalities, which are connected by Hebbian links. In contrast to previous models using a similar architecture, our model employs active Hebbian connections which propagate activation between the visual and auditory maps during learning. Our results show that categorical perception emerges from these early audio-visual interactions in both domains. We argue that the learning mechanism introduced in our model could be behind the facilitation of infants categorization through verbal labelling reported in the literature.