Spatial Metaphor Facilitates Word Learning
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21301632 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ariel Starr (0000-0003-0433-5003, University of Washington, corresponding author), Alagia J Cirolia (University of California, Berkeley), Katharine A Tillman (0000-0001-9440-7239, The University of Texas at Austin), Mahesh Srinivasan (0000-0003-0350-2703, University of California, Berkeley) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 92 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | e329-e342 |
| Publication date | 2021-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Child Development (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0009-3920 • E-ISSN: 1467-8624 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1111/cdev.13477 |
| PMID | 33355926 |
| OpenAlex | W3116639859 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 54 |
Why are spatial metaphors, like the use of “high” to describe a musical pitch, so common? This study tested one hundred and fifty-four 3- to 5-year-old English-learning children on their ability to learn a novel adjective in the domain of space or pitch and to extend this adjective to the untrained dimension. Children were more proficient at learning the word when it described a spatial attribute compared to pitch. However, once children learned the word, they extended it to the untrained dimension without feedback. Thus, children leveraged preexisting associations between space and pitch to spontaneously understand new metaphors. These results suggest that spatial metaphors may be common across languages in part because they scaffold children’s acquisition of word meanings that are otherwise difficult to learn
Adjective · Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Dimension (graph theory) · Linguistics · Metaphor · Noun · Perception · Pitch (Music) · Space (punctuation) · Spatial Ability · Vocabulary · Word (group theory) · Word learning · Categorization, perception, and language · Communication · Hearing Impairment and Communication · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Mathematics · Psychology
How Children Learn the Meanings of Words
Metaphors We Live By
Structure and Variation in Child Language
Constraints Children Place on Word Meanings
Space, Time, Semantics, and the Child11the Preparation of This Paper Was Supported in Part by Public Health Service Grant Mh-20021 From the National Institute of Mental Health. I Wish to Thank Eve v. Clark for Her Suggestions and Comments in the Writing of This Paper.
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Force Dynamics in Language and Cognition
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| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |