Children increasingly associate nouns with their typical vertical space between 18 and 24 months

Abstract

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Previous research showed that the processing of nouns with an implicit spatial position (“up words” such as “moon” or “down words” such as “shoe”) biases vertical responses in children from the age of two. “Up words” seem to direct looks upward (visuo-spatial bias) and facilitate the fixation of targets that appear at an upper position, while the opposite occurred for “down words”. In this preregistered study, we investigated when such language-space associations emerge. We tested children aged between 18 and 24 months ( n = 30), and a group of young adults ( n = 32). Participants heard “up words” and “down words” and then had to fixate on a target that appeared in an upper or lower screen position. The young adults showed robust language-space associations, which were reflected in a visuo-spatial bias and in the time to fixate on the target. For children, we included only words that were reported as understood by their caregivers. With increasing age, children’s visuo-spatial bias and their time to fixate on the target reflected increasing language-space associations. These age-related effects suggest that children between 18 and 24 months begin to associate nouns with their typical vertical space. Therefore, language-space associations seem to develop after children’s initial word learning which might question the functional relevance of the re-activation of sensorimotor experiences for their early words. We discuss possible consequences of children’s limited direct experience with noun’s referents (as reported by caregivers) and methodological limitations of the study on the tested language-space associations. • Typical spatial positions of referents of words biased toddlers’ eye movements. • “Up words” (“moon”) triggered upward, “down words” (“shoe”) downward movements. • Language-space associations increased towards the second birthday. • First words might not be firmly linked to sensorimotor experiences.