Home > Events > Dev Sci Colloquium: Viridiana Benitez (Arizona State)
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Dev Sci Colloquium: Viridiana Benitez (Arizona State)

Time: 
Wednesday, February 24, 2021 - 12:15 PM to 1:30 PM
Location: 
https://umd.zoom.us/j/97438762602?pwd=bU1EaVFJcHJNeThhQ1V2U0VSdXRkUT09

 

Learning words in a dynamic world

Abstract: Young children learn words in dynamic contexts where objects and learners are constantly moving. Previous research has demonstrated that the spatial locations of objects organize attention and memories. Do dynamic spatial contexts affect how children map a label to a referent? In this talk, I will describe three studies that examine how changes in the contexts of naming moments affect typically developing 1.5 – 2.5-year-old children’s object-name learning. The first study shows that keeping objects in consistent locations during naming helps toddlers know where to look and what to remember, promoting learning of the object names. The second study links these processes to the position of the child with respect to objects, and shows that a consistent body position during naming moments also supports word learning. The final study explores why consistency during word learning is important, and demonstrates that young children learn words better from predictable than unpredictable events. Together, these findings show that consistency and predictability during naming moments promotes young children’s ability to learn words. I will end by considering how features of consistency and predictability may facilitate vocabulary development in the real-world word learning contexts of the developing child.

Bio: Viridiana L. Benitez, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in Psychology at Arizona State University. Dr. Benitez’s research is in the area of cognitive development, focusing on how young children learn words, how they track the statistical patterns of their environment, and how language experience, such as bilingualism, affects word learning, attention, and memory. To answer these questions, Dr. Benitez works with infants, children, and adults with monolingual or bilingual language experiences. Dr. Benitez is bicultural, bilingual, and a first generation college graduate, holding a bachelor's in psychology from the University of Houston, a doctorate in developmental psychology from Indiana University, and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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The HDQM Developmental Science Program Colloquium series will be conducted virtually for Spring 2021 on Wednesdays from 12:15 to 1:30. The virtual colloquium presentation schedule for each day will be as follows:

12:15 to 1:00 pm – Invited speaker’s virtual presentation
1:00 to 1:30 pm – Questions and discussion period

Natasha Cabrera (ncabrera@umd.edu) and Richard Prather (prather1@umd.edu) are the faculty coordinators and Karen Levush (klevush@umd.edu) is the graduate student coordinator of the Developmental Science Colloquium Series, Spring 2021.