Processing of concrete and abstract nouns in school-aged children

作者：Kauschke Christina^*; Nutsch Cornelia; Schrauf Judith

来源：Zeitschrift fur Entwicklungspsychologie und Padagogische Psychologie, 2012, 44(1): 2-11.

DOI：10.1026/0049-8637/a000045

• concreteness
• abstractness
• lexical decision
• semantic development
• word processing

Processing of abstract words is an important component of linguistic and cognitive development, especially during the last years of childhood. The present study investigates processing of concrete and abstract nouns in German children and adults with a lexical decision task. Participants were 2x20 children aged 8 and 12 years, respectively, and 20 adults. Results demonstrate that accuracy and speed of lexical decisions vary depending on age and degree of concreteness. The younger children processed concrete nouns faster and more accurately than abstract nouns. Likewise the 12-year-old children showed a higher accuracy for concrete words, whereas no difference in reaction times was detected. Adults showed equal reaction times for concrete and abstract words and even a slightly better performance for abstract words. The results indicate a developmental shift in word processing between eight and twelve years of age, which correlates with an increasing capability of abstraction and a reorganisation of the conceptual system.

• 出版日期2012