More complex incidental bidirectional naming results from exposure alone

Abstract

AbstractIncidental bidirectional naming (Inc‐BiN) has been defined as a verbal developmental cusp whereby children demonstrate learning the names of things as listener and speaker as a function of observation alone. Stimulus characteristics have been found to affect performance in tests for Inc‐BiN. To further explore this effect, Experiment 1 compared untaught listener and speaker responses for novel familiar‐type versus novel nonfamiliar‐type stimuli with 20 first‐grade students following naming experiences in which the participants observed each visual stimulus five times while hearing its name. Participants performed significantly better with familiar‐type than with nonfamiliar‐type stimuli. Experiment 2 examined the effects of a repeated‐probe intervention to induce Inc‐BiN with nonfamiliar‐type stimuli. Participants were six first‐grade students who demonstrated incidental unidirectional naming (i.e., acquired names as listener from exposure alone). Implementation of the intervention was staggered across dyads of participants in a multiple‐probe, simultaneous‐treatments design. One participant in each dyad received the intervention with nonfamiliar‐type stimuli only and the other with both nonfamiliar‐ and familiar‐type stimuli. Pre‐ and postintervention Inc‐BiN probes with stimuli not included in the intervention suggested both conditions were effective in establishing Inc‐BiN for nonfamiliar‐type stimuli. These findings have implications for understanding the mechanisms underlying Inc‐BiN.