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Symbolic play connects to language through visual object recognition
Author(s) -
Smith Linda B.,
Jones Susan S.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
developmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.801
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1467-7687
pISSN - 1363-755X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01065.x
Subject(s) - object (grammar) , psychology , cognitive neuroscience of visual object recognition , language acquisition , communication , artificial intelligence , cognitive psychology , natural language processing , computer science , cognitive science , mathematics education
Abstract Object substitutions in play (e.g. using a box as a car) are strongly linked to language learning and their absence is a diagnostic marker of language delay. Classic accounts posit a symbolic function that underlies both words and object substitutions. Here we show that object substitutions depend on developmental changes in visual object recognition: 18‐ to 30‐month old children (n = 63) substitute objects in play after they have developed the adult‐like ability to recognize common objects from sparse models of their geometric structure. These developmental changes in object recognition are a better predictor of object substitutions than language or age. A developmental pathway connecting visual object recognition, object name learning, and symbolic play is proposed in which object substitutions are like the canary in the coal mine: they are not causally related to language delay, but their absence is an easily detected signal of a problem in language acquisition.