Technology/Digital Media Use and Children's Word Learning Development

Technological Timescales: Identifying the Impact of Digital Media on the Mechanisms of Word Learning

The goal of this work is to address increasing concerns about young children's digital media exposure and language outcomes by testing how the times course of word learning unfolds in digital environments and the cascading impact of digital media on vocabulary outcomes. The findings will have important implications for understanding when and where optimal word learning from media can occur.

Study Overview

• Status: Withdrawn
• Conditions: Healthy
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Modality - 2D-2D; Behavioral: Modality - 3D-2D; Behavioral: Modality - 2D-3D

Detailed Description

The goal of the current proposal is to identify how digital media alters the mechanisms of word learning and subsequently impacts the lexical foundation on which a child's vocabulary is built. Specifically, the proposal aims to identify the impact of digital media on 1) the processes underlying real-time word learning, and 2) the processes of language generalization and vocabulary growth. Specific Aim 1 will use a novel word learning task to test children's ability to map and retain new words within and between digital media (2D images on a tablet) and real world objects (3D objects). Specific Aim 2 will probe children's novel label generalization abilities within and between 2D and 3D modalities using a novel noun generalization task. Further, individual differences in a child's prior technology experience will be measured and used to predict overall vocabulary as well as performance within and between each task.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Oklahoma
    • Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States, 74078
      • Oklahoma State University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 1 year to 2 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• between 17-30 months old

Exclusion Criteria:

• diagnosed developmental delay or disorder
• exposure to more than 25% of another language

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: 3D-3D; All items presented in 3D form
Experimental: 3D-2D; Initial items in 3D, retention and generalization in 2D	Behavioral: Modality - 3D-2D; Modality in which items will be presented (via tablet/digital media or as real object). 3D items initially and retention/generalization as 2D; Other Names: digital media modality
Experimental: 2D-3D; Initial items in 2D, retention and generalization in 3D	Behavioral: Modality - 2D-3D; Modality in which items will be presented (via tablet/digital media or as real object). 2D items initially and retention/generalization as 3D; Other Names: digital media modality
Experimental: 2D-2D; All items in 2D	Behavioral: Modality - 2D-2D; Modality in which items will be presented (via tablet/digital media or as real object). 2D items initially and retention/generalization as 2D; Other Names: digital media modality

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Accuracy on selecting the target item on referent selection	Children's choices on each trial of the task will be measured. Correct responses are those to the target (prompted) item - for referent selection, this is the item asked for in the prompt (e.g. shoe, dog)	1 minute
Accuracy on selecting the target item on retention	Children's choices on each trial of the task will be measured. Correct responses are those to the target (prompted) item - for retention, this is the item asked for in the prompt.	5 minutes
Accuracy on selecting the target item on novel noun generalization task	Children's choices on each trial of the task will be measured. Correct responses are those to the target (prompted) item - for generalization this will be considered as the shape-matching item (and not choosing a color or material match)	1 minute

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Oklahoma State University
• Collaborators: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 7, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2023
• Study Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 23, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 31, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): June 3, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 1, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 30, 2023
• Last Verified: October 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: AS-18-155; R15HD101841 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Studies proposed will be registered under the Open Science Framework (OSF) and resulting findings shared with the academic community through open science initiatives, including OSF and the sharing of videos (when permission is granted) on Databrary.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: After completion of the project and for the duration allowed by the IRB.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Databrary authorized user
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No