# Semantic Development

> **NIH NIH R01** · OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $622,641

## Abstract

Project Summary
 The proposed research is designed to illuminate how semantic organization emerges in the course of
development, and how it contributes to the fundamentally human ability to comprehend language. The
proposed research will be guided by two general hypotheses. The first hypothesis is that comprehension may
fundamentally rely on semantic organization – an organized network of words. The second hypothesis is that
semantic organization emerges from exposure to statistical regularities in language input and from the
developing ability to extract these regularities. To test these hypotheses, we will conduct three studies with 4-9-
year-old children, and adults. The proposed project has the following Specific Aims. Specific Aim 1 is to
conduct a cross-sectional training study (Study 1), presenting 4- to 9-year-old children and adults with
controlled, varied exposure to sentences containing novel words that are rich in regularities, and testing how
the amount of exposure and the ability to form semantic links affect subsequent comprehension. Specific Aim 2
is to recruit 4-year-old children and use a longitudinal design to examine how exposure to language and
maturation of ability to form semantic links affect the development of semantic organization (Study 2). Specific
Aim 3 is to use a longitudinal design (with the same sample as Study 2) to examine whether the development
of semantic organization drives improvements in language comprehension. The proposed project will advance
our understanding of a critical component of typical cognitive and language development and inform
theoretically-based enrichment programs for atypical language development.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10760971
- **Project number:** 1R01HD111458-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** VLADIMIR M SLOUTSKY
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $622,641
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-19 → 2029-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10760971

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10760971, Semantic Development (1R01HD111458-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10760971. Licensed CC0.

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