Neural Bases of Word Learning in the Context Across Different Age Range: A Narrative Review of International Research

Context is crucial during reading and new word acquisition as it provides important clues that help individuals understand the meaning of unknown words. In early development, children employ words broadly to describe diverse objects and actions. As their vocabulary and conceptual understanding grow, they refine word meanings based on context. Context is particularly critical during schooling, where reading facilitates the acquisition of new vocabulary. Context remains vital for adults, as they use contextual cues to understand unfamiliar words, including in professional environments. The article presents a narrative review of contemporary literature on the neural basis of word learning in different context constraints across different age ranges in the international research field. The review aims to identify experiment designs employed to assess word learning within a context and describe differences and similarities in neural markers across different ages. The majority of the reviewed articles focused on young adults, with fewer studies examining children, and only one study addressing adolescents. In this narrative review, the authors described the used paradigms in word learning in different contexts: weakly, moderately and strongly constrained, meaningful and unrelated, and episodic ones. Among electrophysiological markers the N400, P200, and N300 components were investigated across the reviewed studies, as well as theta, alpha, and low beta bands were analysed to understand the rapid neural responses to novel words.