Fragile But Real: Children's Capacity to Use Newly Acquired Words to Convey Preverbal Memories
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Gwynn Morris [1] ; Lynne Baker-Ward [1]
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[1] North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University
Township of Raleigh, Estados Unidos
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- Localización: Child development, ISSN 0009-3920, Vol. 78, Nº. 2, 2007, págs. 448-458
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
There is ongoing debate about children's ability to use subsequently acquired language to describe preverbal experiences. This issue was addressed experimentally in this investigation using a novel paradigm. Two-year-old children who lacked color words were individually taught to activate a bubble machine by selecting a particular color of bubble solution. The children then participated in weekly, experimenter-provided activities that fostered their acquisition of the color labels. After 2 months, their ability to apply the newly acquired words in reporting the original event was assessed. A significant proportion of the children demonstrated verbal recall when prompted in the presence of physical reminders of the event. These findings indicate that some early, preverbal memories are translated into words at a later time.
