Date of Award
2005
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Kersten, Alan
Abstract
The present research was designed to test whether 3-year-old-English-speaking children preferentially associate novel nouns with intrinsic motion rather than extrinsic motion, as predicted by the theory of Kersten (1998). Intrinsic motion refers to the ways the parts of an object move in relation to one another. In contrast, extrinsic motion refers to the motion of an object as a whole with respect to an external reference point (e.g. another object). In two separate experiments, we demonstrated that nouns are associated with intrinsic motion and verbs are associated with extrinsic motion. Specifically, children were able to detect differences between stimuli paired with novel nouns based on intrinsic motion and stimuli paired with novel verbs based on extrinsic motion. In other words, we shed light on the different motion cues children attend to when learning nouns and verbs. Thus, children utilize motion cues in addition to static characteristics when learning nouns and verbs. Therefore, distinct types of motion information play an important role in the learning of nouns and verbs.
Extent
41 p.
Recommended Citation
Iglesias, Adam, "Children attend to intrinsic motions when learning nouns" (2005). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009. 810.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_5/810
Identifier
FADT13270
Comments
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2005.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Charles E. Schmidt College of Science