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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 limits of curiosity? New evidence for the roles of metacognitive abilities and curiosity in learning

Chen, X., Twomey, K. E., Hayes, M. & Westermann, G., 31/01/2025, In: Metacognition and Learning. 20, 1.

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, L., 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. (Editor), Smith, A. C. (Editor), Westermann, G. (Editor) & Monaghan, P. J. (Editor), 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. (Principal Investigator)

The British Academy

1/09/1531/08/16

Press clippings

How Toddlers Learn Verbs: New Insight

Twomey, K.

17/04/14

1 item of Media coverage

How Toddlers Learn Verbs: New Insight

Twomey, K.

16/04/14

1 item of Media coverage

Study Provides New Insight into How Toddlers Learn Verbs

Twomey, K.

15/04/14

1 item of Media coverage