Infants can rapidly learn words in a foreign language
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 21, 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
Ranka Bijeljac-Babic1, Khatijah Nassurally, Mélanie Havy
1Université Paris Descartes, Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, CNRS, Paris, France. Ranka.Bijeljac-Babic@parisdescartes.fr
Abstract:
The present study used an object manipulation task to explore whether infants are able to learn words in a foreign language. French-learning 20-month-olds, who were taught new words in either English or French by a bilingual French-English speaker, succeeded in both language conditions.
Related Concept Videos
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
The Nativist Approach
Components of Language
Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...
Development of Immunocompetence
The initial cells that migrate from the fetal thymus settle within the skin and epithelial tissues lining the mouth, digestive tract, and in females, the uterus and vagina. These cells, including skin-based dendritic cells, serve as antigen-presenting cells, playing a key role in T cell activation.
Subsequent T...

