Cited by 683Language Development and DisordersPhonetics and Phonology ResearchReading and Literacy Development

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 45 of the 45 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 8 of the 34 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

Incidental Language Learning: Listening (and Learning) Out of the Corner of Your Ear

Saffran, Jenny R., Newport, Elissa L., Aslin, Richard N., Tunick, Rachel A., Barrueco, Sandra·1997·Psychological Science

Abstract

Two experiments investigated the performance of first-grade children and adults on an incidental language-learning task. Learning entailed word segmentation from continuous speech, an initial and crucial component of language acquisition. Subjects were briefly exposed to an unsegmented artificial language, presented auditorily, in which the only cues to word boundaries were the transitional probabilities between syllables. Subjects were not told that they were listening to a language, or even to listen at all; rather, they were engaged in a cover task of creating computer illustrations. Both adults and children learned the words of the language. Moreover, the children performed as well as the adults. These data suggest that a statistical learning mechanism (transitional probability computation) is able to operate incidentally and, surprisingly, as well in children as in adults.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

Two experiments showed that adults and 6- to 7-year-old children could learn words from a continuous artificial speech stream incidentally, while engaged in an unrelated drawing task. Children performed as well as adults, suggesting statistical word segmentation can operate without directed attention and may be age-invariant.

Key findings

  • In Experiment 1, after one 21-min exposure, adults scored 21.1/36 (58.6%) and children scored 21.3/36 (59.2%), both significantly above chance (adults: t(11) = 2.38, p < .05; children: t(12) = 3.67, p < .01), with no significant adult-child difference, t(23) > 1, n.s.
  • In Experiment 2, after doubled exposure across two sessions, adults scored 26.3/36 (73.1%) and children scored 24.6/36 (68.3%), both significantly above chance (adults: t(11) = 6.33, p < .01; children: t(10) = 5.56, p < .01), again with no significant adult-child difference, t(21) > 1, n.s.
  • Doubling exposure improved performance significantly, F(1, 46) = 12.5, p < .01, with no main effect of age, F(1, 46) = 0.162, n.s., and no interaction between exposure length and age, F(1, 46) = 0.94, n.s.
  • Subjects learned the words despite not being told the tape was a language or that they would be tested; the only cues to word boundaries were transitional probabilities between syllables, higher within words (.31–1.0) than across word boundaries (.1–.2).

Methods

  • Participants were monolingual English speakers: Experiment 1 had 12 University of Rochester undergraduates and 13 children aged 6–7; Experiment 2 had 12 paid adult college students and 11 children aged 6–7 from University of Rochester summer camps.
  • Exposure used a 21-min synthesized speech stream containing 300 tokens of each of six trisyllabic nonsense words in random order, with no pauses or acoustic/prosodic cues to word boundaries; learning was tested with 36 two-alternative forced-choice trials pairing words against nonword foils.
  • The cover task had subjects create computer illustrations with Kid Pix 2 while the tape played; Experiment 2 repeated the 21-min exposure on a second day before testing.

Limitations

  • The paper states the linguistic input was more concentrated than natural learning environments and was impoverished, lacking utterance boundaries and acoustic/prosodic cues that probabilistically correlate with word boundaries; the study targeted incidental learning of statistical information rather than a full model of natural word-boundary acquisition.
  • The paper states it was not trying to assess whether learning occurred without conscious awareness; subjects varied in reported awareness, and these differences did not correlate with performance.
  • The paper states further research is needed to see whether child superiority in later natural-language stages appears in more complex statistical learning tasks or involves different, nonstatistical mechanisms; evident from the text, the samples were small and limited to 6- and 7-year-olds using an artificial language, so generalization to infants and natural language acquisition is not established.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00690.x

Cites

45 of 45 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

11 Own interpretation · 8 Own method · 5 Supported so far · 4 No full text of the sources · 4 Own result · 3 Sources not found · 2 Partly supported · 2 Not checked yet · 2 No basis given · 1 Not supported · accuracy not yet measured

Show all 19 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 13
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 13
23 of 23
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Little research has examined the characteristics of incidental learning pertinent to children's language acquisition.

    “However, little research has examined the characteristics of incidental learning pertinent to the process of children's language acquisition.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Word segmentation from continuous speech is an initial and crucial component of language acquisition, and the artificial-language segmentation task validly models that component.

    “Learning entailed word segmentation from continuous speech, an initial and crucial component of language acquisition.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    During exposure, subjects' attention was not directed to the speech stream or to the word segmentation task.

    “Any learning that occurred was thus doubly incidental, in that attention was directed neither to the word segmentation task nor to the acoustic stimuli forming the words.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Before children can begin to acquire syntax, they must discover the words of their language.

    “Before children can begin to acquire syntax, they must discover the words of their language”
4 of 4

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Statistics recomputed

Every reported test result, recomputed from its test statistic and degrees of freedom. A result shows as not adding up only once an independent check has confirmed it.

  • ConsistentF(1, 46) = 0.162reported n.s. · recomputed p = .689

    “F(1, 46) = 0.162, n.s.”

  • ConsistentF(1, 46) = 0.94reported n.s. · recomputed p = .337

    “F(1, 46) = 0.94, n.s.”

2 of 2

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

2 of 2

Citations

Cites

Show all 44 references

Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. Aslin R.N., 1996, Signal to syntax, 117
  2. Christiansen M.H. (1994). Infinite languages, finite minds: Connectionism, learning and linguistic structure. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland.
  3. Cleeremans A., 1995, Backpropagation: Theory, architectures, and applications, 273
  4. Cole R., 1980, A model of speech perception
  5. Ellis N.C., 1994, Implicit and explicit learning of languages
  6. Mintz T.H., 1995, Proceedings of NELS 25, 2, 43

Cited by

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Items 501–600 of 683

Metadata

Authors
Saffran, J. R., Newport, E. L., Aslin, R. N., Tunick, R. A., & Barrueco, S.
Affiliations
  • University of Rochester (US)
  • Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester
  • United States Department of Veterans Affairs (US)
  • University of Denver (US)
Corresponding author
Saffran, Jenny R.
Venue
Psychological Science
Published
1997-03
Volume
8
Issue
2
Pages
101-105
ISSN
  • 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-9280
OpenAlex
W2083195749
Cited by
675
References
44
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 76 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 40 · 2014: 37 · 2013: 28 · 2012: 32
FWCI
10.93
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phonetics and Phonology Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
Keywords
incidental language learning, word segmentation, connected speech, artificial languages, transition probabilities, statistical learning, auditory learning, children versus adults, first grade students, syllable boundaries

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