This work is currently under review for publication, so stay tuned!
Our experiment was a first attempt to test a direct, causal relation between prediction and learning. We find that prediction itself doesn’t explain how children learn novel words, but 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds who predict and redirect attention toward the novel referent were more successful in learning. That being said, learning 12 novel words in just a few minutes was clearly difficult for children, as indicated by their low accuracy at test. In sum, further experiments are needed to evaluate the role of prediction in learning, and to clarify what other factors (e.g., cognitive control) are involved during learning.
It was a great time, as always, despite the snow!
Looking forward to CUNY 2018!