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Conference Presentations by Barbara Pomiechowska

Categorization and word learning skills develop fast during the first year of life. Infants respo... more Categorization and word learning skills develop fast during the first year of life. Infants respond to adult-like categories, show knowledge of some words, and can use novel words as cues to categorization. In the current study, we investigated whether infant category and lexical knowledge affects how object representations are maintained in memory.
We recorded scalp EEG of 12-month-old infants during an occlusion paradigm. The item being revealed after the occlusion was manipulated: infants saw either the same object as before the occlusion (no change), another member of the same category (within-category change), or a member from a new category (across-category change). First group saw objects with unfamiliar labels (No-label group); second group saw objects with familiar labels (Label group). We hypothesized that for labeled objects, infants will only encode category-relevant features and therefore will only notice across-category changes; for unfamiliar categories, infants will encode featural information and therefore will notice both within and across-category changes.
We measured event-related potentials to the object reappearance. Infants in No-label group detected both across-category and within-category changes, suggesting that they did use the featural information to maintain the object representation across the occlusion. Infants in Label group detected across-category changes, but not within-category changes, suggesting that they either stored category-relevant features or lexical information.
A follow-up experiment showed that non-lexical category knowledge is enough for infants not to notice within-category changes. In this study, before participating in the EEG occlusion task, infants learned two new categories by observing object classification events. No labeling was used. Differential ERP response was shown only to the across-category change. Additional analysis of gamma-band activity distribution over the scalp during the occlusion period will reveal further similarities or differences between conditions.
These results show that category knowledge modulates how the infant brain stores and maintains object representations, and influences object recognition.

Papers by Barbara Pomiechowska

Royal Society Open Science, 2021

To what extent does language shape how we think about the world? Studies suggest that linguistic ... more To what extent does language shape how we think about the world? Studies suggest that linguistic symbols expressing conceptual categories (‘apple’, ‘squirrel’) make us focus on categorical information (e.g. that you saw a squirrel) and disregard individual information (e.g. whether that squirrel had a long or short tail). Across two experiments with preverbal infants, we demonstrated that it is not language but nonverbal category knowledge that determines what information is packed into object representations. Twelve-month-olds (N = 48) participated in an electroencephalography (EEG) change-detection task involving objects undergoing a brief occlusion. When viewing objects from unfamiliar categories, infants detected both across- and within-category changes, as evidenced by their negative central wave (Nc) event-related potential. Conversely, when viewing objects from familiar categories, they did not respond to within-category changes, which indicates that nonverbal category knowle...

Neuropsychologia, 2017

Since the discovery of motor mirroring, the involvement of the motor system in action interpretat... more Since the discovery of motor mirroring, the involvement of the motor system in action interpretation has been widely discussed. While some theories proposed that motor mirroring underlies human action understanding, others suggested that it is a corollary of action interpretation. We put these two accounts to the test by employing superficially similar actions that invite radically different interpretations of the underlying intentions. Using an action-observation task, we assessed motor activation (as indexed by the suppression of the EEG mu rhythm) in response to actions typically interpreted as instrumental (e.g., grasping) or referential (e.g., pointing) towards an object. Only the observation of instrumental actions resulted in enhanced mu suppression. In addition, the exposure to grasping actions failed to elicit mu suppression when they were preceded by speech, suggesting that the presence of communicative signals modulated the interpretation of the observed actions. These results suggest that the involvement of sensorimotor cortices during action processing is conditional on a particular (instrumental) action interpretation, and that action interpretation relies on inferential processes and top-down mechanisms that are implemented outside of the motor system.

Cognition

Representing objects in terms of their kinds enables inferences based on the long-term knowledge ... more Representing objects in terms of their kinds enables inferences based on the long-term knowledge made available through kind concepts. For example, children readily use lexical knowledge linked to familiar kind concepts to disambiguate new words (e.g., "find the toma"): they exclude members of familiar kinds falling under familiar kind labels (e.g., a ball) as potential referents and link new labels to available unfamiliar objects (e.g., a funnel), a phenomenon dubbed as 'mutual exclusivity'. Younger infants' failure in mutual exclusivity tasks has been commonly interpreted as a limitation of early word-learning or inferential abilities. Here, we investigated an alternative explanation, according to which infants do not spontaneously represent familiar objects under kind concepts, hence lacking access to the information necessary for rejecting them as referents of novel labels. Building on findings about conceptual development and communication, we hypothesized that nonverbal communication could prompt infants to set up kind-based representations which, in turn, would promote mutual exclusivity inferences. This hypothesis was tested in a looking-while-listening task involving novel word disambiguation. Twelve-month-olds saw pairs of objects, one familiar and one unfamiliar, and heard familiar kind labels or novel words. Across two experiments providing a cross-lab replication in two different languages, infants successfully disambiguated novel words when the familiar object had been pointed at before labeling, but not when it had been highlighted in a non-communicative manner (Experiment 1) or not highlighted at all (Experiment 2). Nonverbal communication induced infants to recruit kind-based representations of familiar objects that they failed to recruit in its absence and that, once activated, supported mutual-exclusivity inferences. Developmental changes in children's appreciation of communicative contexts may modulate the expression of early inferential and word learning competences.

Royal Society Open Science, 2021

To what extent does language shape how we think about the world? Studies suggest that linguistic ... more To what extent does language shape how we think about the world? Studies suggest that linguistic symbols expressing conceptual categories ('apple', 'squirrel') make us focus on categorical information (e.g. that you saw a squirrel) and disregard individual information (e.g. whether that squirrel had a long or short tail). Across two experiments with preverbal infants, we demonstrated that it is not language but nonverbal category knowledge that determines what information is packed into object representations. Twelve-month-olds (N = 48) participated in an electroencephalography (EEG) change-detection task involving objects undergoing a brief occlusion. When viewing objects from unfamiliar categories, infants detected both across-and within-category changes, as evidenced by their negative central wave (Nc) event-related potential. Conversely, when viewing objects from familiar categories, they did not respond to within-category changes, which indicates that nonverbal category knowledge interfered with the representation of individual surface features necessary to detect such changes. Furthermore, distinct patterns of γ and α oscillations between familiar and unfamiliar categories were evident before and during occlusion, suggesting that categorization had an influence on the format of recruited object representations. Thus, we show that nonverbal category knowledge has rapid and enduring effects on object representation and discuss their functional significance for generic knowledge acquisition in the absence of language.

Psychological Science, 2019

Although it is widely recognized that human infants build a sizeable conceptual repertoire before... more Although it is widely recognized that human infants build a sizeable conceptual repertoire before mastering language, it remains a matter of debate whether and to what extent early conceptual and category knowledge contributes to language development. We addressed this question by investigating whether 12-month-olds used preverbal categories to discover the meanings of new words. We showed that infants (N = 18) readily extended novel labels to previously unseen exemplars of preverbal visual categories after only a single labeling episode, while struggling to do so when taught labels for unfamiliar categories (N = 18). These results suggest that infants expect labels to denote categories of objects and are equipped with learning mechanisms responsible for matching prelinguistic knowledge structures with linguistic inputs. This ability is in line with the idea that our conceptual machinery provides building blocks for vocabulary and language acquisition.

by Ewa Haman, Tanja Rinker, Kristine Jensen de López, Ciara O'Toole, Barbara Pomiechowska, Sari Kunnari, Svetlana Kapalková, MARIA KAMBANAROS, Bibi Janssen, Daniela Gatt, Anna Gavarró, and Darinka Anđelković

We present a new set of subjective Age of Acquisition (AoA) ratings for 299 words (158 nouns, 141... more We present a new set of subjective Age of Acquisition (AoA) ratings for 299 words (158 nouns, 141 verbs) in 25 languages from 5 language families (Afroasiatic: Semitic languages; Altaic: Turkic language: Indo-european: Baltic, Celtic, Germanic, Hellenic, Slavic and Romance languages; Niger-Congo: Bantu language; Uralic: Finnic and Ugric languages). Adult native speakers reported the age at which they had learned each word. We present comparison of the AoA ratings across all languages by contrasting them in pairs. This comparison shows a consistency in the order of ratings across 25 languages. Data are then analysed (1) to ascertain how demographic characteristics of participants influence AoA estimations and (2) to assess differences caused by the exact form of target question (when did you learn vs. when do children learn this word); (3) to compare ratings obtained in our study to those of previous studies; and (4) to assess the validity of our study by comparison with quasi-objective AoA norms derived from MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MB-CDIs). All 299 words were judged as acquired early (mostly before the age of 6 years). AoA ratings were associated with the rater’s social or language status, but not with the rater’s age or education. Parents reported words to be learned earlier, and bilinguals later. Estimations of the age at which children learn the words revealed significantly lower ratings of AoA. Finally, comparisons with previous AoA and MB-CDI norms support the validity of the present estimations. Our AoA ratings are available for research or other purposes.

This chapter addresses the need for comparable measures of lexical knowledge in both languages of... more This chapter addresses the need for comparable measures of lexical knowledge in both languages of a bilingual child. Typically, tools designed to identify SLI do not take into account if a child is bilingual and how this might affect raw test scores, often leading to misdiagnosis. Both vocabulary size and processing speed can be confounding variables when diagnosticians attempt to disentangle bilingualism from SLI at the lexical level. Lexical abilities can also be used as a baseline assessment of bilingual dominance/proficiency. Hence the need for such tools as we describe here.
Delayed and impaired lexical abilities are among the earliest indicators of SLI (Leonard, 1998). Children with SLI show a delay in lexical development both in terms of the overall number of words and in reaching lexical milestones (i.e. first 50, 100, 200 words, Leonard & Deevy, 2004). They also display relatively weak semantic categories (McGregor et al., 2002). Bilingual children often have smaller lexicons in both of their languages (Bialystok et al., 2010) when compared to monolinguals. However, the number of words in the two languages of a bilingual child added together may not be different from those measured by monolingual norms (Marchman et al., 2009). The processing load in lexical tasks as measured by reaction time is claimed to be higher in bilinguals than in monolinguals (Bialystok et al., 2008, Chen, 1990; Dijkstra, 2003; Kohnert & Bates, 2002). At the same time, children with SLI experience reduced processing capabilities in comparison with typically developing children (Lahey et al., 2001; Lahey & Edwards, 1996; Montgomery, 2002).
Lexical abilities are potentially an early identification measure of bilingual SLI (Gatt et al., 2008), although they should not be used as the only diagnostic variable for this purpose (Gray et al., 1999; Spaulding et al., 2013). The assessment of processing speed and accuracy in lexical tasks may enhance the identification process (Pérez et al., 2013).
The Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks (CLTs) designed within COST Action IS0804 were conceived to provide a fully comparable assessment for vocabulary and lexical processing in 34 different languages. We present the innovative method of the CLTs´ construction: a multilingual parallel task construction procedure which enables an objective test of vocabulary and processing skills in any pair of languages included in the process.
The CLTs target comprehension and production of nouns and verbs. The response accuracy measured in the CLTs indicates the level of receptive and expressive vocabulary size. Measuring reaction time (i.e. comprehension and naming speed) provides insight into the processing demands of passive and active knowledge across the two word classes. Picture choice and picture naming were chosen as being tasks least involving other types of linguistic or conceptual skills.
Currently, the CLTs have been prepared for 21 of the 34 languages and are available for use by researchers. Their use in diagnostics will be warranted as soon as norming studies addressing specific populations of mono- and bilingual children have been completed.

Categorization and word learning skills develop fast during the first year of life. Infants respo... more Categorization and word learning skills develop fast during the first year of life. Infants respond to adult-like categories, show knowledge of some words, and can use novel words as cues to categorization. In the current study, we investigated whether infant category and lexical knowledge affects how object representations are maintained in memory.
We recorded scalp EEG of 12-month-old infants during an occlusion paradigm. The item being revealed after the occlusion was manipulated: infants saw either the same object as before the occlusion (no change), another member of the same category (within-category change), or a member from a new category (across-category change). First group saw objects with unfamiliar labels (No-label group); second group saw objects with familiar labels (Label group). We hypothesized that for labeled objects, infants will only encode category-relevant features and therefore will only notice across-category changes; for unfamiliar categories, infants will encode featural information and therefore will notice both within and across-category changes.
We measured event-related potentials to the object reappearance. Infants in No-label group detected both across-category and within-category changes, suggesting that they did use the featural information to maintain the object representation across the occlusion. Infants in Label group detected across-category changes, but not within-category changes, suggesting that they either stored category-relevant features or lexical information.
A follow-up experiment showed that non-lexical category knowledge is enough for infants not to notice within-category changes. In this study, before participating in the EEG occlusion task, infants learned two new categories by observing object classification events. No labeling was used. Differential ERP response was shown only to the across-category change. Additional analysis of gamma-band activity distribution over the scalp during the occlusion period will reveal further similarities or differences between conditions.
These results show that category knowledge modulates how the infant brain stores and maintains object representations, and influences object recognition.

Royal Society Open Science, 2021

To what extent does language shape how we think about the world? Studies suggest that linguistic ... more To what extent does language shape how we think about the world? Studies suggest that linguistic symbols expressing conceptual categories (‘apple’, ‘squirrel’) make us focus on categorical information (e.g. that you saw a squirrel) and disregard individual information (e.g. whether that squirrel had a long or short tail). Across two experiments with preverbal infants, we demonstrated that it is not language but nonverbal category knowledge that determines what information is packed into object representations. Twelve-month-olds (N = 48) participated in an electroencephalography (EEG) change-detection task involving objects undergoing a brief occlusion. When viewing objects from unfamiliar categories, infants detected both across- and within-category changes, as evidenced by their negative central wave (Nc) event-related potential. Conversely, when viewing objects from familiar categories, they did not respond to within-category changes, which indicates that nonverbal category knowle...

Neuropsychologia, 2017

Since the discovery of motor mirroring, the involvement of the motor system in action interpretat... more Since the discovery of motor mirroring, the involvement of the motor system in action interpretation has been widely discussed. While some theories proposed that motor mirroring underlies human action understanding, others suggested that it is a corollary of action interpretation. We put these two accounts to the test by employing superficially similar actions that invite radically different interpretations of the underlying intentions. Using an action-observation task, we assessed motor activation (as indexed by the suppression of the EEG mu rhythm) in response to actions typically interpreted as instrumental (e.g., grasping) or referential (e.g., pointing) towards an object. Only the observation of instrumental actions resulted in enhanced mu suppression. In addition, the exposure to grasping actions failed to elicit mu suppression when they were preceded by speech, suggesting that the presence of communicative signals modulated the interpretation of the observed actions. These results suggest that the involvement of sensorimotor cortices during action processing is conditional on a particular (instrumental) action interpretation, and that action interpretation relies on inferential processes and top-down mechanisms that are implemented outside of the motor system.

Cognition

Representing objects in terms of their kinds enables inferences based on the long-term knowledge ... more Representing objects in terms of their kinds enables inferences based on the long-term knowledge made available through kind concepts. For example, children readily use lexical knowledge linked to familiar kind concepts to disambiguate new words (e.g., "find the toma"): they exclude members of familiar kinds falling under familiar kind labels (e.g., a ball) as potential referents and link new labels to available unfamiliar objects (e.g., a funnel), a phenomenon dubbed as 'mutual exclusivity'. Younger infants' failure in mutual exclusivity tasks has been commonly interpreted as a limitation of early word-learning or inferential abilities. Here, we investigated an alternative explanation, according to which infants do not spontaneously represent familiar objects under kind concepts, hence lacking access to the information necessary for rejecting them as referents of novel labels. Building on findings about conceptual development and communication, we hypothesized that nonverbal communication could prompt infants to set up kind-based representations which, in turn, would promote mutual exclusivity inferences. This hypothesis was tested in a looking-while-listening task involving novel word disambiguation. Twelve-month-olds saw pairs of objects, one familiar and one unfamiliar, and heard familiar kind labels or novel words. Across two experiments providing a cross-lab replication in two different languages, infants successfully disambiguated novel words when the familiar object had been pointed at before labeling, but not when it had been highlighted in a non-communicative manner (Experiment 1) or not highlighted at all (Experiment 2). Nonverbal communication induced infants to recruit kind-based representations of familiar objects that they failed to recruit in its absence and that, once activated, supported mutual-exclusivity inferences. Developmental changes in children's appreciation of communicative contexts may modulate the expression of early inferential and word learning competences.

Royal Society Open Science, 2021

To what extent does language shape how we think about the world? Studies suggest that linguistic ... more To what extent does language shape how we think about the world? Studies suggest that linguistic symbols expressing conceptual categories ('apple', 'squirrel') make us focus on categorical information (e.g. that you saw a squirrel) and disregard individual information (e.g. whether that squirrel had a long or short tail). Across two experiments with preverbal infants, we demonstrated that it is not language but nonverbal category knowledge that determines what information is packed into object representations. Twelve-month-olds (N = 48) participated in an electroencephalography (EEG) change-detection task involving objects undergoing a brief occlusion. When viewing objects from unfamiliar categories, infants detected both across-and within-category changes, as evidenced by their negative central wave (Nc) event-related potential. Conversely, when viewing objects from familiar categories, they did not respond to within-category changes, which indicates that nonverbal category knowledge interfered with the representation of individual surface features necessary to detect such changes. Furthermore, distinct patterns of γ and α oscillations between familiar and unfamiliar categories were evident before and during occlusion, suggesting that categorization had an influence on the format of recruited object representations. Thus, we show that nonverbal category knowledge has rapid and enduring effects on object representation and discuss their functional significance for generic knowledge acquisition in the absence of language.

Psychological Science, 2019

Although it is widely recognized that human infants build a sizeable conceptual repertoire before... more Although it is widely recognized that human infants build a sizeable conceptual repertoire before mastering language, it remains a matter of debate whether and to what extent early conceptual and category knowledge contributes to language development. We addressed this question by investigating whether 12-month-olds used preverbal categories to discover the meanings of new words. We showed that infants (N = 18) readily extended novel labels to previously unseen exemplars of preverbal visual categories after only a single labeling episode, while struggling to do so when taught labels for unfamiliar categories (N = 18). These results suggest that infants expect labels to denote categories of objects and are equipped with learning mechanisms responsible for matching prelinguistic knowledge structures with linguistic inputs. This ability is in line with the idea that our conceptual machinery provides building blocks for vocabulary and language acquisition.

by Ewa Haman, Tanja Rinker, Kristine Jensen de López, Ciara O'Toole, Barbara Pomiechowska, Sari Kunnari, Svetlana Kapalková, MARIA KAMBANAROS, Bibi Janssen, Daniela Gatt, Anna Gavarró, and Darinka Anđelković

We present a new set of subjective Age of Acquisition (AoA) ratings for 299 words (158 nouns, 141... more We present a new set of subjective Age of Acquisition (AoA) ratings for 299 words (158 nouns, 141 verbs) in 25 languages from 5 language families (Afroasiatic: Semitic languages; Altaic: Turkic language: Indo-european: Baltic, Celtic, Germanic, Hellenic, Slavic and Romance languages; Niger-Congo: Bantu language; Uralic: Finnic and Ugric languages). Adult native speakers reported the age at which they had learned each word. We present comparison of the AoA ratings across all languages by contrasting them in pairs. This comparison shows a consistency in the order of ratings across 25 languages. Data are then analysed (1) to ascertain how demographic characteristics of participants influence AoA estimations and (2) to assess differences caused by the exact form of target question (when did you learn vs. when do children learn this word); (3) to compare ratings obtained in our study to those of previous studies; and (4) to assess the validity of our study by comparison with quasi-objective AoA norms derived from MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MB-CDIs). All 299 words were judged as acquired early (mostly before the age of 6 years). AoA ratings were associated with the rater’s social or language status, but not with the rater’s age or education. Parents reported words to be learned earlier, and bilinguals later. Estimations of the age at which children learn the words revealed significantly lower ratings of AoA. Finally, comparisons with previous AoA and MB-CDI norms support the validity of the present estimations. Our AoA ratings are available for research or other purposes.

This chapter addresses the need for comparable measures of lexical knowledge in both languages of... more This chapter addresses the need for comparable measures of lexical knowledge in both languages of a bilingual child. Typically, tools designed to identify SLI do not take into account if a child is bilingual and how this might affect raw test scores, often leading to misdiagnosis. Both vocabulary size and processing speed can be confounding variables when diagnosticians attempt to disentangle bilingualism from SLI at the lexical level. Lexical abilities can also be used as a baseline assessment of bilingual dominance/proficiency. Hence the need for such tools as we describe here.
Delayed and impaired lexical abilities are among the earliest indicators of SLI (Leonard, 1998). Children with SLI show a delay in lexical development both in terms of the overall number of words and in reaching lexical milestones (i.e. first 50, 100, 200 words, Leonard & Deevy, 2004). They also display relatively weak semantic categories (McGregor et al., 2002). Bilingual children often have smaller lexicons in both of their languages (Bialystok et al., 2010) when compared to monolinguals. However, the number of words in the two languages of a bilingual child added together may not be different from those measured by monolingual norms (Marchman et al., 2009). The processing load in lexical tasks as measured by reaction time is claimed to be higher in bilinguals than in monolinguals (Bialystok et al., 2008, Chen, 1990; Dijkstra, 2003; Kohnert & Bates, 2002). At the same time, children with SLI experience reduced processing capabilities in comparison with typically developing children (Lahey et al., 2001; Lahey & Edwards, 1996; Montgomery, 2002).
Lexical abilities are potentially an early identification measure of bilingual SLI (Gatt et al., 2008), although they should not be used as the only diagnostic variable for this purpose (Gray et al., 1999; Spaulding et al., 2013). The assessment of processing speed and accuracy in lexical tasks may enhance the identification process (Pérez et al., 2013).
The Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks (CLTs) designed within COST Action IS0804 were conceived to provide a fully comparable assessment for vocabulary and lexical processing in 34 different languages. We present the innovative method of the CLTs´ construction: a multilingual parallel task construction procedure which enables an objective test of vocabulary and processing skills in any pair of languages included in the process.
The CLTs target comprehension and production of nouns and verbs. The response accuracy measured in the CLTs indicates the level of receptive and expressive vocabulary size. Measuring reaction time (i.e. comprehension and naming speed) provides insight into the processing demands of passive and active knowledge across the two word classes. Picture choice and picture naming were chosen as being tasks least involving other types of linguistic or conceptual skills.
Currently, the CLTs have been prepared for 21 of the 34 languages and are available for use by researchers. Their use in diagnostics will be warranted as soon as norming studies addressing specific populations of mono- and bilingual children have been completed.