Odean, R. , Abad, C. , Bradley, C. A. & Pruden, S. M.
Florida International University
Research on early word learning in recent decades has focused on how children learn nouns (e.g., Fernald et al., 2008; Pruden et al., 2006). However, a comprehensive theory of word learning will require that we understand the development of other word types, including words that describe our spatial world (e.g., ''big,'' ''under,'' ''beside''). We seek to understand whether the quantity of spatial language children hear in the home predicts individual differences in the processing and mapping of a spatial word to its referent. Bilingual Spanish-English children (36-38 months) and a parent participated in a total of 60 minutes of in-home observation, including 30 minutes of everyday activities, and 30 minutes of play with provided spatial toys - a puzzle, a shape sorter puzzle and a Mega Bloks set. The home visits were recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were coded for spatial and non-spatial words produced by the parent and child. Children also participated in an Intermodal Preferential Looking Paradigm in the lab, which measured their ability to map spatial terms onto images, and their efficiency in doing so. Children saw two images depicting a spatial relation simultaneously on a split-screen, while hearing a female speaker ask for the target spatial relation. A Tobii X60 eyetracker recorded children's gaze to each stimuli. Only those spatial terms parents indicated on a checklist that their child knew were included in the final analyses as we were interested in assessing children's efficiency in processing a familiar spatial term. Our predictions are that children whose parents (a) use more spatial language in the home setting, and (b) engage children in spatial activities for longer periods of time will: (1) have larger receptive and productive spatial vocabularies, and (2) be more efficient in processing and mapping spatial words to their correct referents. Preliminary data will be reported.