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M. Imai · SciRah

Researcher profile · Semantic Scholar

M. Imai

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M. Imai — researcher profile on SciRah

h-index: 32
Works: 115
Citations: 4,520

Most-cited papers

Sound symbolism facilitates early verb learning.
M. Imai, S. Kita, M. Nagumo, Hiroyuki Okada
2008Cognition443 citations
Semantic Scholar
The sound symbolism bootstrapping hypothesis for language acquisition and language evolution
M. Imai, S. Kita
2014Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences430 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
As time goes by: Evidence for two systems in processing space → time metaphors
D. Gentner, M. Imai, L. Boroditsky
2002357 citations
Semantic Scholar
Novel noun and verb learning in Chinese-, English-, and Japanese-speaking children.
M. Imai, Lianjing Li, Etsuko Haryu, Hiroyuki Okada +3 more
2008Child Development248 citations
Semantic Scholar
Japanese Sound-Symbolism Facilitates Word Learning in English-Speaking Children
K. Kantartzis, M. Imai, S. Kita
2011Cognitive Sciences190 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
Sound symbolism scaffolds language development in preverbal infants.
Michiko Asano, M. Imai, S. Kita, K. Kitajo +2 more
2015Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior178 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
Mapping novel nouns and verbs onto dynamic action events: are verb meanings easier to learn than noun meanings for Japanese children?
M. Imai, Etsuko Haryu, Hiroyuki Okada
2005Child Development161 citations
Semantic Scholar
The relation between language, culture, and thought.
M. Imai, J. Kanero, Takahiko Masuda
2016Current Opinion in Psychology112 citations
Semantic Scholar
Scope of linguistic influence: does a classifier system alter object concepts?
Henrik Saalbach, M. Imai
2007Journal of experimental psychology. General90 citations
Semantic Scholar
A developmental shift from similar to language specific strategies in verb acquisition: A comparison of English, Spanish, and Japanese
M. Maguire, K. Hirsh-Pasek, R. Golinkoff, M. Imai +5 more
2009Cognition83 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
Language-Relative Construal of Individuation Constrained by Universal Ontology: Revisiting Language Universals and Linguistic Relativity
M. Imai, R. Mazuka
2007Cognitive Sciences80 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
How Sound Symbolism Is Processed in the Brain: A Study on Japanese Mimetic Words
J. Kanero, M. Imai, J. Okuda, Hiroyuki Okada +1 more
2014PLoS ONE75 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
Word learning does not end at fast-mapping: evolution of verb meanings through reorganization of an entire semantic domain.
Noburo Saji, M. Imai, Henrik Saalbach, Yuping Zhang +2 more
2011Cognition73 citations
Semantic Scholar
Talking About Walking
B. Malt, Silvia P. Gennari, M. Imai, Eef Ameel +2 more
2008Psychology Science69 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
Separating the chaff from the oats: Evidence for a conceptual distinction between count noun and mass noun aggregates
E. Middleton, E. Wisniewski, Kelly Trindel, M. Imai
200468 citations
Semantic Scholar
Sound Symbolism Facilitates Word Learning in 14-Month-Olds
M. Imai, Michiko Miyazaki, H. Yeung, Shohei Hidaka +3 more
2015PLoS ONE66 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
Object similarity bootstraps young children to action-based verb extension.
Etsuko Haryu, M. Imai, Hiroyuki Okada
2011Child Development64 citations
Semantic Scholar
Human locomotion in languages: Constraints on moving and meaning
B. Malt, Eef Ameel, M. Imai, Silvia P. Gennari +2 more
201462 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
Re-evaluating linguistic relativity: Language-specific categories and the role of universal ontological knowledge in the construal of individuation
M. Imai, R. Mazuka
200355 citations
Semantic Scholar
Learning proper nouns and common nouns without clues from syntax.
M. Imai, Etsuko Haryu
2001Child Development50 citations
Semantic Scholar
Grammatical Gender and Inferences About Biological Properties in German-Speaking Children
Henrik Saalbach, M. Imai, L. Schalk
2012Cognitive Sciences44 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
All Giraffes Have Female-Specific Properties: Influence of Grammatical Gender on Deductive Reasoning About Sex-Specific Properties in German Speakers
M. Imai, L. Schalk, Henrik Saalbach, Hiroyuki Okada
2014Cognitive Sciences37 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
Cross-linguistically shared and language-specific sound symbolism in novel words elicited by locomotion videos in Japanese and English
Noburo Saji, K. Akita, K. Kantartzis, S. Kita +1 more
2019PLoS ONE36 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
Where are the concepts? What words can and can’t reveal
B. Malt, Silvia P. Gennari, M. Imai, Eef Ameel +2 more
201535 citations
Semantic Scholar
Is the future always ahead? Evidence for system-mappings in understanding space-time metaphors
D. Gentner, M. Imai
200334 citations
Semantic Scholar
Reorganizing the lexicon by learning a new word: Japanese children's interpretation of the meaning of a new word for a familiar artifact.
Etsuko Haryu, M. Imai
2002Child Development34 citations
Semantic Scholar
Who is Crossing Where?: Infants’ Discrimination of Figures and Grounds in Events
T. Göksun, K. Hirsh-Pasek, R. Golinkoff, M. Imai +2 more
2011Cognition32 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
A Cross-Linguistic Comparison of Novel Noun and Verb Learning in English-, Japanese-, and Chinese- Speaking Children
M. Imai, Etsuko Haryu, Hiroyuki Okada, Lianjing Li +1 more
201031 citations
Semantic Scholar
Cross-Linguistically Shared and Language-Specific Sound Symbolism for Motion: An Exploratory Data Mining Approach
Noburo Saji, K. Akita, M. Imai, K. Kantartzis +1 more
2013Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society29 citations
Semantic Scholar
The relation between linguistic categories and cognition: The case of numeral classifiers
Henrik Saalbach, M. Imai
201229 citations
Semantic Scholar
Lexicalization Patterns and the World-to-Words Mapping
B. Malt, Silvia P. Gennari, M. Imai
201029 citations
Semantic Scholar
Are Chinese and German Children Taxonomic, Thematic, or Shape Biased? Influence of Classifiers and Cultural Contexts
M. Imai, Henrik Saalbach, Elsbeth Stern
2010Front. Psychology28 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
CHILDREN LEARN SOUND SYMBOLIC WORDS BETTER: EVOLUTIONARY VESTIGE OF SOUND SYMBOLIC PROTOLANGUAGE
S. Kita, K. Kantartzis, M. Imai
201025 citations
Semantic Scholar
Universal ontological knowledge and a bias toward language-specific categories in the construal of individuation
M. Imai
200025 citations
Semantic Scholar
Evolution of Verb Meanings in Children and L2 Adult Learners Through Reorganization of an Entire Semantic Domain: The Case of Chinese Carry/Hold Verbs
Noburo Saji, M. Imai
201324 citations
Semantic Scholar
Do words reveal concepts?
B. Malt, Eef Ameel, Silvia P. Gennari, M. Imai +2 more
2011Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society23 citations
Semantic Scholar
The facilitatory role of sound symbolism in infant word learning
Michiko Miyazaki, Shohei Hidaka, M. Imai, H. Yeung +3 more
2013Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society22 citations
Semantic Scholar
Acquisition of the Meaning of the Word Orange Requires Understanding of the Meanings of Red, Pink, and Purple: Constructing a Lexicon as a Connected System
Noburo Saji, M. Imai, Michiko Asano
2020Cognitive Sciences20 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
The Role of Language and Culture in Universality and Diversity of Human Concepts
M. Imai, Takahiko Masuda
201220 citations
Semantic Scholar
Revisiting language universals and linguistic relativity: Language-relative construal of individuation constrained by universal ontology
M. Imai, R. Mazuka
200716 citations
Semantic Scholar
Sound symbolism processing is lateralized to the right temporal region in the prelinguistic infant brain
Jiale Yang, Michiko Asano, S. Kanazawa, M. Yamaguchi +1 more
2019Scientific Reports14 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
Categories in Mind and Categories in Language: Do Classifier Categories Influence Conceptual Structures?
M. Imai, Henrik Saalbach
201014 citations
Semantic Scholar
The contingency symmetry bias (affirming the consequent fallacy) as a prerequisite for word learning: A comparative study of pre-linguistic human infants and chimpanzees.
M. Imai, Chizuko Murai, Michiko Miyazaki, Hiroyuki Okada +1 more
2021Cognition13 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
Does sound symbolism need sound?: The role of articulatory movement in detecting iconicity between sound and meaninga).
M. Imai, Sotaro Kita, K. Akita, Noburo Saji +2 more
2025Journal of the Acoustical Society of America11 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
Sound Symbolism Facilitates Long-Term Retention of the Semantic Representation of Novel Verbs in Three-Year-Olds
K. Kantartzis, M. Imai, Danielle Evans, S. Kita
2019Languages11 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
The role of timing and prototypical causality on how preschoolers fast-map novel verb meanings
K. Abbot-Smith, M. Imai, S. Durrant, Erika Nurmsoo
201710 citations Open access
Semantic Scholar
Gesture in language: How sound symbolic words are processed in the brain
M. Arata, M. Imai, J. Okuda, Hiroyuki Okada +1 more
201010 citations
Semantic Scholar
Do classifier categories structure our concepts
Henrik Saalbach, M. Imai
20059 citations
Semantic Scholar
The Meanings of FRONT/BACK/LEFT/RIGHT
M. Imai, T. Nakanishi, H. Miyashita, Yoichi Kidachi +1 more
19998 citations
Semantic Scholar
Learning Individual Verbs and the Verb System: When Are Multiple Examples Helpful?
M. Imai, Jane B. Childers
20207 citations
Semantic Scholar

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Hiroyuki Okada×15
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Noburo Saji×9
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