Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 26, 2026
06:04
Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages
Published on: March 24, 2023
At 11 months, prosody still outranks statistics
Elizabeth K Johnson1, Amanda H Seidl
1Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada. elizabeth.johnson@utoronto.ca
Developmental Science
|January 6, 2009
Summary
Eleven-month-old infants can segment words with non-initial stress. This ability emerges not from relying more on statistical cues, but from integrating various segmentation cues, including prosody.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Linguistics
Background:
- Infants initially rely on stressed syllables as word onsets.
- By 11 months, infants develop the ability to segment words with non-initial stress.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if the emergence of segmenting non-initially stressed words is linked to changes in cue reliance.
- To determine if infants shift from prosodic to statistical cues for word segmentation.
Main Methods:
- Utilized artificial language methodology with varying prosodic and statistical cues.
- Employed a familiarity preference procedure to assess infant word segmentation.
- Conducted three experiments with different stimuli and designs.
Main Results:
- Baseline study showed infants preferred statistically derived words.
- When stress cues conflicted with statistical cues, 11-month-olds preferred stress-cued words.
- Later experiments suggested 11-month-olds rely more on prosodic than statistical cues.
Conclusions:
- The ability to segment non-initially stressed words is not solely due to increased reliance on statistical cues.
- Infant word segmentation likely emerges from integrating a wider range of cues, including prosody.
Related Concept Videos
01:22Language Development
Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
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...
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...
01:37Statistical Significance
Once data is collected from both the experimental and the control groups, a statistical analysis is conducted to find out if there are meaningful differences between the two groups. A statistical analysis determines how likely any difference found is due to chance (and thus not meaningful). In psychology, group differences are considered meaningful, or significant, if the odds that these differences occurred by chance alone are 5 percent or less. Stated another way, if we repeated this...
01:27Language and Cognition
Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.
01:11Statistical Analysis: Overview
When we take repeated measurements on the same or replicated samples, we will observe inconsistencies in the magnitude. These inconsistencies are called errors. To categorize and characterize these results and their errors, the researcher can use statistical analysis to determine the quality of the measurements and/or suitability of the methods.
One of the most commonly used statistical quantifiers is the mean, which is the ratio between the sum of the numerical values of all results and the...
One of the most commonly used statistical quantifiers is the mean, which is the ratio between the sum of the numerical values of all results and the...