Age of acquisition

Sets of normative values for age of acquisition for large sets of words have been developed.

• Kuperman, Stadthagen-Gonzalez, and Brysbaert {{cite web|url=http://crr.ugent.be/archives/806|title=Age-of-acquisition ratings for 30 thousand English words |work=springer.com}}
• Gilhooly and Logie.{{cite journal|title=Age-of-acquisition, imagery, concreteness, familiarity, and ambiguity measures for 1,944 words | doi=10.3758/BF03201693 | volume=12|issue = 4|journal=Behavior Research Methods & Instrumentation|pages=395–427 | last1 = Gilhooly | first1 = K. J.|year = 1980|doi-access=free}}
• Morrison et al.{{cite journal|title=Age of Acquisition Norms for a Large Set of Object Names and Their Relation to Adult Estimates and Other Variables | doi=10.1080/027249897392017 | volume=50|issue=3 |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A|pages=528–559 | last1 = Morrison | first1 = Catriona M.|date=August 1997 | s2cid=145696157 }}
• Juhasz et al.{{Cite journal|last1=Juhasz|first1=Barbara J.|last2=Lai|first2=Yun-Hsuan|last3=Woodcock|first3=Michelle L.|date=December 2015|title=A database of 629 English compound words: ratings of familiarity, lexeme meaning dominance, semantic transparency, age of acquisition, imageability, and sensory experience|journal=Behavior Research Methods|language=en|volume=47|issue=4|pages=1004–1019|doi=10.3758/s13428-014-0523-6|pmid=25361864|issn=1554-3528|doi-access=free}}
• Sereno et al.{{Cite journal|last1=Scott|first1=Graham G.|last2=Keitel|first2=Anne|last3=Becirspahic|first3=Marc|last4=Yao|first4=Bo|last5=Sereno|first5=Sara C.|date=2019-06-01|title=The Glasgow Norms: Ratings of 5,500 words on nine scales|url=https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-018-1099-3|journal=Behavior Research Methods|language=en|volume=51|issue=3|pages=1258–1270|doi=10.3758/s13428-018-1099-3|issn=1554-3528|pmc=6538586|pmid=30206797}}

It has been disputed whether age of acquisition has an effect on word tasks on its own or by virtue of its covariance with other variables such as word frequency. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the age of acquisition is related to the fact that an earlier learned word has been encountered more often.{{cite web|url=http://psych.cf.ac.uk/home2/lewis/13%20Lewis_Reevaluating%20AoA%20effects%20(Cognition%202001).pdf|title=Re-evaluating age-of-acquisition effects: are they simply cumulative-frequency effects?}} These issues were partially resolved in an article by Ghyselinck, Lewis and Brysbaert.{{cite journal|title=Age of acquisition and the cumulative-frequency hypothesis: A review of the literature and a new multi-task investigation | doi=10.1016/j.actpsy.2003.11.002 |pmid=14734241 | volume=115|issue=1 |journal=Acta Psychologica|pages=43–67 | last1 = Ghyselinck | first1 = Mandy|date=January 2004 }}{{Explain|date=April 2023|reason=what does the research say and why is it significant?}}

Alternatively there have been discussions of the effect that the age of acquisition has on memory.{{Cite journal|last1=Macmillan|first1=Molly B.|last2=Neath|first2=Ian|last3=Surprenant|first3=Aimeé M.|date=2021-07-01|title=Re-assessing age of acquisition effects in recognition, free recall, and serial recall|journal=Memory & Cognition|language=en|volume=49|issue=5|pages=939–954|doi=10.3758/s13421-021-01137-6|pmid=33558995|s2cid=231869671|issn=1532-5946|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Lau|first1=Mabel C|last2=Goh|first2=Winston D|last3=Yap|first3=Melvin J|date=2018-10-01|title=An item-level analysis of lexical-semantic effects in free recall and recognition memory using the megastudy approach|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021817739834|journal=Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology|language=en|volume=71|issue=10|pages=2207–2222|doi=10.1177/1747021817739834|pmid=30226433|s2cid=52292000|issn=1747-0218}}{{Cite journal |last1=Catling |first1=J. C. |last2=Pymont |first2=C. |last3=Johnston |first3=R. A. |last4=Elsherif |first4=M. M. |last5=Clark |first5=R. |last6=Kendall |first6=E. |date=2021-05-28 |title=Age of acquisition effects in recognition without identification tasks |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09658211.2021.1931695 |journal=Memory |language=en |volume=29 |issue=5 |pages=662–674 |doi=10.1080/09658211.2021.1931695 |issn=0965-8211 |pmid=34028339 |s2cid=235169015}}{{Cite journal |last1=Elsherif |first1=Mahmoud M. |last2=Catling |first2=Jonathan C. |date=2023-10-01 |title=Are two words recalled or recognised as one? How age-of-acquisition affects memory for compound words |journal=Journal of Memory and Language |language=en |volume=132 |pages=104449 |doi=10.1016/j.jml.2023.104449 |issn=0749-596X|doi-access=free }} The influence of AoA on recognition memory is likely to be present, using a pure and mixed lists. However, the AoA effect is not likely to be present in free recall tasks. However, there is evidence indicating that the AoA is present in free recall in compound words. One explanation for this is that disyllabic words such as compound words have more irregular spelling-to-sound correspondence, thus semantics is more likely to take place, while monomorphemic items have a more regular spelling-to-sound correspondence, thus semantics is less likely to take place.{{Cite journal |last1=Cortese |first1=Michael J. |last2=Schock |first2=Jocelyn |date=2013-05-01 |title=Imageability and age of acquisition effects in disyllabic word recognition |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/17470218.2012.722660 |journal=Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology |language=en |volume=66 |issue=5 |pages=946–972 |doi=10.1080/17470218.2012.722660 |pmid=23030642 |s2cid=27216655 |issn=1747-0218|url-access=subscription }}

The AoA effects could be attributed to incremental construction of semantic representations.{{Cite journal|last1=Brysbaert|first1=Marc|last2=Ghyselinck|first2=Mandy|date=2006-05-01|title=The effect of age of acquisition: Partly frequency related, partly frequency independent|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13506280544000165|journal=Visual Cognition|volume=13|issue=7–8|pages=992–1011|doi=10.1080/13506280544000165|hdl=1854/LU-599273|s2cid=4835404|issn=1350-6285|hdl-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Steyvers|first1=Mark|last2=Tenenbaum|first2=Joshua B.|date=2005|title=The Large-Scale Structure of Semantic Networks: Statistical Analyses and a Model of Semantic Growth|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15516709cog2901_3|journal=Cognitive Science|language=en|volume=29|issue=1|pages=41–78|doi=10.1207/s15516709cog2901_3|pmid=21702767|issn=1551-6709|arxiv=cond-mat/0110012|s2cid=6000627}} Early-acquired words develop stronger connections with other words as they have richer semantic representations, and are thus more resistant to cognitive impairment.{{Cite journal|last1=Brysbaert|first1=Marc|last2=Ellis|first2=Andrew W.|date=2016-11-01|title=Aphasia and age of acquisition: are early-learned words more resilient?|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2015.1106439|journal=Aphasiology |volume=30|issue=11|pages=1240–1263|doi=10.1080/02687038.2015.1106439|s2cid=4830641|issn=0268-7038|url-access=subscription}}

The AoA effects result from reduced neuroplasticity during the learning of mappings between representations over time.{{Cite journal|last1=Ellis|first1=Andrew W.|last2=Lambon Ralph|first2=Matthew A.|date=2000|title=Age of acquisition effects in adult lexical processing reflect loss of plasticity in maturing systems: Insights from connectionist networks.|url=http://doi.apa.org/getdoi.cfm?doi=10.1037/0278-7393.26.5.1103|journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition|language=en|volume=26|issue=5|pages=1103–1123|doi=10.1037/0278-7393.26.5.1103|pmid=11009247 |issn=1939-1285}}{{Cite journal|last1=Monaghan|first1=Padraic|last2=Ellis|first2=Andrew W.|date=2010-11-01|title=Modeling reading development: Cumulative, incremental learning in a computational model of word naming|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749596X10000641|journal=Journal of Memory and Language|language=en|volume=63|issue=4|pages=506–525|doi=10.1016/j.jml.2010.08.003|issn=0749-596X|url-access=subscription}} Early-acquired words use the rich resources available in the system, while late-acquired words need to fitted into the system already tuned to early-acquired words. Consequently, there is a processing cost for late-acquired words, especially for those having mapping structures that are different to early-acquired words.{{Cite journal|last1=Lambon Ralph|first1=Matthew A.|last2=Ehsan|first2=Sheeba|date=2006-05-01|title=Age of acquisition effects depend on the mapping between representations and the frequency of occurrence: Empirical and computational evidence|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13506280544000110|journal=Visual Cognition|volume=13|issue=7–8|pages=928–948|doi=10.1080/13506280544000110|hdl=1854/LU-599273|s2cid=53633875|issn=1350-6285|hdl-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Zevin|first1=Jason D.|last2=Seidenberg|first2=Mark S.|date=2004-01-01|title=Age-of-acquisition effects in reading aloud: Tests of cumulative frequency and frequency trajectory|journal=Memory & Cognition|language=en|volume=32|issue=1|pages=31–38|doi=10.3758/BF03195818|pmid=15078042|issn=1532-5946|doi-access=free}} Opaque or deep languages such as English are more likely to show AoA effects, as a result of this mapping between letter and sound being irregular in opaque languages, leading to a larger AoA effects, whereas transparent or shallow languages such as Spanish are more likely to demonstrate small or no AoA effects, as the mapping between letter and sound is regular and late-acquired words can benefit from the structure created by early-acquired words.

This theory argued that the AoA effect could be explained by both the representation theory and mapping theory such that the AoA effect is observed as a consequence of incremental learning, resulting from both the construction of representations and changing plasticity in the learning system.{{Cite journal|last1=Brysbaert|first1=Marc|last2=Ellis|first2=Andrew W.|date=2016-11-01|title=Aphasia and age of acquisition: are early-learned words more resilient?|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2015.1106439|journal=Aphasiology |volume=30|issue=11 |pages=1240–1263|doi=10.1080/02687038.2015.1106439|s2cid=4830641|issn=0268-7038|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite journal|last1=Dirix|first1=Nicolas|last2=Duyck|first2=Wouter|date=2017-12-01|title=An eye movement corpus study of the age-of-acquisition effect|journal=Psychonomic Bulletin & Review|language=en|volume=24|issue=6|pages=1915–1921|doi=10.3758/s13423-017-1233-8|pmid=28116701|s2cid=22669248|issn=1531-5320|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Menenti|first1=Laura|last2=Burani|first2=Cristina|date=2007-05-01|title=What causes the effect of age of acquisition in lexical processing?|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/17470210601100126|journal=Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology|language=en|volume=60|issue=5|pages=652–660|doi=10.1080/17470210601100126|pmid=17455073|hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0012-2A1C-1|s2cid=13058539|issn=1747-0218|hdl-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Elsherif|first1=M.M.|last2=Catling|first2=J.C.|date=2021-12-09|title=Age of acquisition effects on the decomposition of compound words|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2021.2013246|journal=Journal of Cognitive Psychology|volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=325–338|doi=10.1080/20445911.2021.2013246|s2cid=245017698|issn=2044-5911}} Early-acquired words use the rich resources available in the system to develop stronger connections with newer words, thus developing richer semantic representations, while late-acquired words have to tune to early-acquired words and thus have fewer connections to other words. In turn, the late-acquired word not only has a different mapping structure but also a processing cost.

Chang et al.{{Cite journal |last=Chang |first=Ya-Ning |last2=Monaghan |first2=Padraic |last3=Welbourne |first3=Stephen |date=2019-10-01 |title=A computational model of reading across development: Effects of literacy onset on language processing |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0749596X19300488 |journal=Journal of Memory and Language |volume=108 |pages=104025 |doi=10.1016/j.jml.2019.05.003 |issn=0749-596X|hdl=21.11116/0000-0003-B420-D |hdl-access=free }} argued that in contrast to written words, which has an often arbitrary relationship between letters and sounds, the strong connection between phonology and semantics is crucial for reading. The relationship between sound production and perception are more consistent, allowing readers to leverage their spoken language skills to decode written words. Children exploit this phonology-semantics link to read words, encountered before formal literacy instructions, using the indirect route to sound words and access their meanings. As a result, the regularity of phonology provides a significant advantage over written language systems. This inherent consistency contributes to he effectiveness of phonological decoding strategies in reading. As a result, the link between mapping and semantics highlights the value of the integrated theory.

However, we need to consider orthographic transparency. Within opaque languages, the AoA can differ depending on the level of imageability (i.e. how imageable an item is). If the item has high imageability, the AoA effect is more likely to be small or non-existent, whereas if the item has low imageability, the AoA effect is more likely to be large. In transparent languages such as Spanish, if the item has low imageability, the AoA effect will not be evident, whereas if the item has high imageability, the AoA will be demonstrated.

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Category:Psycholinguistics