Preschool Children's Multimodal Word Learning

Two studies used a new paradigm to examine preschool children's (i.e., 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds) word learning across multiple sense modalities. In Study 1 (n = 60), children heard a word for an object that they touched but did not see, while word learning was examined using objects that were seen but not touched. In Study 2 (n = 60), children heard a word for an object that they saw but did not touch, while word learning was examined using objects that were touched but not seen. Findings from both studies revealed that children were able to learn words by coordinating information across multiple sense modalities and that word learning improved with age. These findings are discussed in terms of E. J. Gibson's differentiation theory (1969 Gibson , E. J. ( 1969 ). Principles of perceptual learning and development . Englewood Cliffs , NJ : Prentice Hall . [Google Scholar], 1988 Gibson , E. J. ( 1988 ). Exploratory behavior in the development of perceiving, acting, and the acquiring of knowledge . Annual Review of Psychology , 39 , 1 – 41 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).