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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

Do novel words facilitate 18-month-olds' spatial categorization?

Marianella Casasola¹, Jui Bhagwat

¹Department of Human Development, Cornell University, B51 MVR Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. mc272@cornell.edu

Child Development

|November 9, 2007

Summary

Eighteen-month-olds can form abstract spatial categories using novel words. Language acquisition influences how infants learn spatial relations, with early learners benefiting from novel spatial words.

More Related Videos

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

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

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

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

Area of Science:

Developmental Psychology
Cognitive Science
Linguistics

Background:

Infants' ability to categorize spatial relations is crucial for cognitive development.
Understanding how language acquisition influences early spatial learning is an ongoing research area.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if 18-month-old infants can form abstract spatial categories using novel spatial words.
To examine the role of infants' existing spatial language production in this categorization process.

Main Methods:

Habituation paradigm using novel spatial words (particles) and count nouns.
Comparison of infant attention to spatial events presented with and without auditory linguistic input.
Assessment of infants' productive spatial vocabulary.

Main Results:

Infants formed abstract representations of 'support' when hearing a novel spatial particle, but not in silence.
Infants with developed spatial vocabularies did not discriminate the 'support' relation with a novel count noun.
Infants not yet producing spatial words did attend to the 'support' relation when presented with a novel count noun.

Conclusions:

Eighteen-month-olds can utilize novel spatial words, particularly particles, to facilitate spatial categorization.
The effectiveness of novel words in promoting spatial categorization is modulated by the infant's stage of spatial language acquisition.