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Related Concept Videos

Language Development01:22

Language 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...
Naturalistic Observations02:30

Naturalistic Observations

If you want to understand how behavior occurs, one of the best ways to gain information is to simply observe the behavior in its natural context. However, people might change their behavior in unexpected ways if they know they are being observed. How do researchers obtain accurate information when people tend to hide their natural behavior? As an example, imagine that your professor asks everyone in your class to raise their hand if they always wash their hands after using the restroom. Chances...
Observational Studies01:11

Observational Studies

Observational studies are a type of analytical study where researchers observe events without any interventions. In other words, the researcher does not influence the response variable or the experiment's outcome.
There are three types of observational studies – Prospective, retrospective, and cross-sectional.
Prospective Study
Prospective studies, also known as longitudinal or cohort studies, are carried out by collecting future data from groups sharing similar characteristics. One example of...
Language and Cognition01:27

Language 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.
Elaborative Rehearsals01:07

Elaborative Rehearsals

Elaborative rehearsal is a crucial cognitive strategy that strengthens information encoding in long-term memory by making meaningful connections between new data and pre-existing knowledge. This approach contrasts with maintenance rehearsal, which involves simple repetition without delving into the significance of the information. While maintenance rehearsal might temporarily keep information active in short-term memory, it is less effective for long-term retention.
The effectiveness of...
Hindsight Biases01:12

Hindsight Biases

Hindsight bias leads you to believe that the event you just experienced was predictable, even though it really wasn’t. In other words, you knew all along that things would turn out the way they did. Can you relate this to the phrase "Hindsight is 20/20" now?

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects
07:36

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects

Published on: November 30, 2018

Flexibility in early verb use: evidence from a multiple-N diary study.

Letitia R Naigles, Erika Hoff, Donna Vear

    Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development
    |August 8, 2009
    PubMed
    Summary

    Children demonstrate remarkable language flexibility early on. By 24 months, toddlers use verbs flexibly in meaning and grammar, showing they are active learners, not just imitators.

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    Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats
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    Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats

    Published on: February 15, 2015

    Related Experiment Videos

    Last Updated: Jun 21, 2026

    Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects
    07:36

    Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects

    Published on: November 30, 2018

    Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats
    08:30

    Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats

    Published on: February 15, 2015

    Area of Science:

    • Developmental Psychology
    • Linguistics
    • Cognitive Science

    Background:

    • Human language is characterized by flexibility and productivity.
    • Understanding when and how children achieve language flexibility is crucial for language acquisition theories.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To investigate the achievement of flexibility and productivity in children's early verb use.
    • To test competing hypotheses regarding language acquisition models.

    Main Methods:

    • Diary records of mothers documenting children's first 10 uses of 34 early acquired verbs.
    • Analysis of pragmatic, semantic, and syntactic properties of early verb usage in children aged 16-20 months.
    • Longitudinal observation over 3-12 months.

    Main Results:

    • Children use verbs for diverse communicative functions (commanding, describing).
    • Early verb use demonstrates semantic flexibility (varied actions, actors, objects) and syntactic flexibility (varied structures).
    • All observed children exhibited semantic and grammatical flexibility before 24 months of age.

    Conclusions:

    • Children are avid generalizers, not conservative language users, in early language acquisition.
    • Early verb usage indicates abstracting abilities and inclinations that may emerge in infancy.
    • Findings support models of language learning emphasizing active generalization from experience.