Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 30, 2026

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization
Published on: April 19, 2017
Newborn infants' sensitivity to perceptual cues to lexical and grammatical words
R Shi1, J F Werker, J L Morgan
1School of Audiology and Speech Sciences and Department of Psychology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Abstract:
In our study newborn infants were presented with lists of lexical and grammatical words prepared from natural maternal speech. The results show that newborns are able to categorically discriminate these sets of words based on a constellation of perceptual cues that distinguish them. This general ability to detect and categorically discriminate sets of words on the basis of multiple acoustic and phonological cues may provide a perceptual base that can help older infants bootstrap into the acquisition of grammatical categories and syntactic structure.
Related Concept Videos
Imprinting
Language Development
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
Language and Cognition
Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development
Exploration...
The Nativist Approach

