Novel word learning with verbal definitions and images: Tracking consolidation with behavioral and event-related potential measures

Abstract

We examined the impact of images on novel word learning and consolidation, in a conceptual replication of Liu and Van Hell (2020). After participants had learned one set of novel words with definitions and images on Day 1 (remote words) and a different set on Day 2 (recent words), they judged the semantic relatedness of word pairs on Days 2 and 8 while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Day 2 ERPs showed that remote, but not recent, novel words elicited a late positive component. By Day 8, both remote and recent novel words elicited a late positive component. We observed no N400 on either day. Comparing these learners (definition-image group) with learners trained with definitions only (using data from Liu & Van Hell, 2020) revealed that the groups’ ERP patterns did not differ, but definition recall and relatedness judgment performances were higher for the definition-image group than for the definition-only group. Learning novel word meanings through definitions and images strengthened behavioral outcomes but did not affect ERP signatures of learning and consolidation.