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Katherine Twomey

SUMMARY of research interests (100 words)

I am fascinated by how children learn language.  My research focuses on how children learn their first words and categories, as well as acquire more abstract syntax.  I examine the interactions between these processes using behavioural, corpus and computational (neural network) techniques. More information can be found here: https://sites.google.com/site/ktwomeyresearch/home.

SUMMARY of research interests (100 words)

Research output

The role of the Natural History Museum in promoting language word learning for young children

Lester, N., Theakston, A. & Twomey, K. E., 31/03/2023, In: Infant and Child Development. 32, 2, e2400.

Children's scale errors and object processing: Early evidence for cross-cultural differences

Ishibashi, M., Twomey, K. E., Westermann, G. & Uehara, I., 30/11/2021, In: Infant Behavior and Development. 65, 12 p., 101631.

Neurocomputational models capture the effect of learned labels on infants' object and category representations

Capelier-Mourguy, A., Twomey, K. E. & Westermann, G., 1/06/2020, In: IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems. 12, 2, p. 160-168 9 p.

New evidence for learning-based accounts of gaze following: Testing a robotic prediction

Silverstein, P., Westermann, G., Parise, E. & Twomey, K., 30/09/2019, 2019 Joint IEEE 9th International Conference on Development and Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL-EpiRob). IEEE, p. 302-306 5 p.

Negativity Bias in Emotion Perception on Toddlers Word’s Learning: Findings from an Eye Tracking Study

MA, LIZHI., Twomey, K. E. & Westermann, G., 2019.

The effect of labelling and object handling on children’s novel object exploration.

Loucaides, M., Westermann, G. & Twomey, K., 2/07/2018.

Curiosity-based learning in infants: A neurocomputational approach

Twomey, K. E. & Westermann, G., 1/07/2018, In: Developmental Science. 21, 4, 13 p., e12629.

All the Right Noises: Background Variability Helps Early Word Learning

Twomey, K. E., Ma, L. & Westermann, G., 1/05/2018, In: Cognitive Science. 42 Suppl 2, Suppl. 2, p. 413-438 26 p.

Learned labels shape pre-speech infants’ object representations

Twomey, K. E. & Westermann, G., 31/01/2018, In: Infancy. 23, 1, p. 61-73 13 p.

Computational models of word learning

Westermann, G. & Twomey, K. E., 10/11/2017, Early Word Learning. Westermann, G. & Mani, N. (eds.). Routledge, p. 138-154 16 p.

Extraneous visual noise facilitates word learning

Twomey, K. E., Ma, L. & Westermann, G., 20/07/2017, Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Gunzelmann, G., Howes, A., Tenbrink, T. & Davelaar, E. (eds.). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society, p. 3404-3409 6 p.

Neurocomputational models of cognitive development and processing: 14th Neural Computation and Psychology Workshop Lancaster University, UK, 21 – 23 August 2014

Twomey, K. E. (ed.), Smith, A. C. (ed.), Westermann, G. (ed.) & Monaghan, P. J. (ed.), 11/2016, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing. 152 p. (Progress in Neural Processing; vol. 22)

Labels affect infants' object representations

Twomey, K. E., 25/08/2016.

A learned label modulates object representations in 10-month-old infants

Twomey, K. E. & Westermann, G., 3/08/2016, Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Papafragou, A., Grodner, D., Mirman, D. & Trueswell, J. C. (eds.). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society, p. 680-685 6 p.

A neurocomputational model of the effect of learned labels on infants’ object representations

Capelier-Mourguy, A., Twomey, K. E. & Westermann, G., 3/08/2016, Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.. Papafragou, A., Grodner, D., Mirman, D. & Trueswell, J. C. (eds.). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society, p. 337-341 5 p.

Lexical distributional cues, but not situational cues, are readily used to learn abstract locative verb-structure associations.

Twomey, K. E., Chang, F. & Ambridge, B., 1/08/2016, In: Cognition. 153, p. 124-139 16 p.

Infants’ information seeking in a category exploration task

Twomey, K. E. & Westermann, G., 28/05/2016.

Book Review: Brian MacWhinney & William O’Grady (Eds.), The handbook of language emergence

Twomey, K. E., 04/2016, In: First Language. 36, 2, p. 157-159 3 p.

What's on the inside counts: a grounded account of concept acquisition and development

Thill, S. & Twomey, K. E., 23/03/2016, In: Frontiers in Psychology. 7, 11 p., 402.

Children’s referent selection and word learning: insights from a developmental robotic system

Twomey, K. E., Morse, A., Cangelosi, A. & Horst, J., 2016, In: Interaction Studies. 17, 1, p. 101-127 27 p.

The effect of background variability on referent selection in fast mapping tasks: evidence from eye movements

Ma, L., Twomey, K. E. & Westermann, G., 2016.

A neural network model of curiosity-driven categorization

Twomey, K. E. & Westermann, G., 13/08/2015. 6 p.

Preemption versus entrenchment: towards a construction-general solution to the problem of the retreat from verb argument structure overgeneralization

Ambridge, B., Bidgood, A., Twomey, K. E., Pine, J. M., Rowland, C. F. & Freudenthal, D., 28/04/2015, In: PLoS ONE. 10, 4, 20 p., e0123723.

Do as I say, not as I do: a lexical distributional account of English locative verb class acquisition

Twomey, K., Chang, F. & Ambridge, B., 09/2014, In: Cognitive Psychology. 73, p. 41-71 31 p.

Visual variability affects early verb learning

Twomey, K., Lush, L., Pearce, R. & Horst, J., 09/2014, In: British Journal of Developmental Psychology. 32, 3, p. 359-366 8 p.

Competition affects word learning in a developmental robotic system

Twomey, K., Morse, A., Cangelosi, A. & Horst, J., 07/2014.

That's more like it: multiple exemplars facilitate word learning

Twomey, K., Ranson, S. & Horst, J., 30/04/2014, In: Infant and Child Development. 23, 2, p. 105-122 18 p.

Some thoughts on curiosity in infants and neural network models

Westermann, G. & Twomey, K., 2014.

An embodied model of young children’s categorization and word learning

Twomey, K., Horst, J. & Morse, A., 1/02/2013, Theoretical and computational models of word learning: trends in psychology and artificial intelligence. Gogate, L. & Hollich, G. (eds.). IGI Global, p. 172-196 25 p.

It's taking shape: shared object features influence novel noun generalizations

Horst, J. & Twomey, K., 1/01/2013, In: Infant and Child Development. 22, 1, p. 24-43 20 p.

Testing a Dynamic Neural Field model of children's category labeling

Twomey, K. & Horst, J., 01/2013, Computational models of cognitive processes: proceedings of the 13th Neural Computation and Psychology Workshop (NCPW13). Mayor, J. & Gomez, P. (eds.). World Scientific, p. 83-94 12 p. (Progress in Neural Processing; vol. 21).

A distributional account of children’s acquisition of the locative construction: corpus and computational evidence

Twomey, K. & Chang, F., 2013.

A distributional learning account of the acquisition of the locative alternation: corpus analysis and modeling

Twomey, K., Chang, F. & Ambridge, B., 2013, Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Knauff, M., Pauen, M., Sebanz, N. & Wachsmuth, I. (eds.). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society, p. 1498-1503 6 p.

Encountering multiple exemplars during fast mapping facilitates word learning

Horst, J., Twomey, K. & Ranson, S., 2013, Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Knauff, M., Pauen, M., Sebanz, N. & Wachsmuth, I. (eds.). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society, p. 2566-2571 6 p.

Twinkle twinkle little star: exemplar variability affects early verb learning

Twomey, K., Lush, L., Pearce, R. & Horst, J., 2013.

An investigation of fast and slow mapping

Twomey, K., 2012, University of Sussex.

All things considered: Dynamic Field Theory captures effect of categories on children’s word learning

Twomey, K. & Horst, J., 2011.

More than meets the eye: how category structure affects infants’ word learning

Twomey, K. & Horst, J., 2011.

Variable exemplars facilitate word learning via fast mapping

Twomey, K. & Horst, J., 2011.

Variable exemplars facilitate word learning

Twomey, K. & Horst, J., 2010.

It’s taking shape: preschool children’s awareness of their own naming biases

Twomey, K. & Horst, J., 2009.

Projects

Curiosity-based infant categorisation: an empirical view

Twomey, K.

The British Academy

1/09/1531/08/16

Press clippings

How Toddlers Learn Verbs: New Insight

Dr Katherine Twomey

17/04/14

1 item of Media coverage

How Toddlers Learn Verbs: New Insight

Dr Katherine Twomey

16/04/14

1 item of Media coverage

Study Provides New Insight into How Toddlers Learn Verbs

Dr Katherine Twomey

15/04/14

1 item of Media coverage