Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task
Published on: June 1, 2015
Learning in reverse: eight-month-old infants track backward transitional probabilities
Bruna Pelucchi1, Jessica F Hay, Jenny R Saffran
1Department of Psychology and Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI 53705, United States of America. pelucchi@wisc.edu
Abstract:
Numerous recent studies suggest that human learners, including both infants and adults, readily track sequential statistics computed between adjacent elements. One such statistic, transitional probability, is typically calculated as the likelihood that one element predicts another. However, little is known about whether listeners are sensitive to the directionality of this computation. To address this issue, we tested 8-month-old infants in a word segmentation task, using fluent speech drawn from an unfamiliar natural language. Critically, test items were distinguished solely by their backward transitional probabilities. The results provide the first evidence that infants track backward statistics in fluent speech.
Related Concept Videos
Introduction to Learning
In contrast to learned behaviors, unlearned behaviors such as crying, sexual...
Instinctive Drift
The Nativist Approach
Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development
Exploration...
Observational Learning
Associative Learning
Classical conditioning, also known...

