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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...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 6, 2026

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm
06:35

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm

Published on: April 28, 2016

Rapid fast-mapping abilities in 2-year-olds.

Chad Spiegel1, Justin Halberda

  • 1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. chad.spiegel@gmail.com

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|December 15, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Two-year-olds can quickly learn new words by selecting the correct object (referent selection) and remembering it (referent retention) even with ambiguous information. This fast mapping ability aids early word acquisition in children.

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Linguistics

Background:

  • Word learning involves referent selection and referent retention.
  • Children must rapidly map novel words to objects in natural conversation.
  • Previous research often conflated these two distinct word-learning processes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate 2-year-olds' ability to infer novel noun referents from ambiguous single exposures.
  • To assess children's capacity for retaining these newly formed label-object mappings over time.
  • To examine the speed and accuracy of fast mapping in early childhood.

Main Methods:

  • A preferential pointing task was used with 72 two-year-olds.
  • Children were exposed to novel labels paired with familiar and novel objects.
  • A 3-second window was given for referent selection and mapping, followed by a retention test.

Main Results:

  • Despite ambiguous labeling and time constraints, children successfully identified target objects in a retention trial.
  • Two-year-olds demonstrated the ability to perform referent selection and retention.
  • The study confirmed successful fast mapping of novel nouns under challenging conditions.

Conclusions:

  • Two-year-olds can fast map novel nouns from a single, ambiguous exposure.
  • Referent retention abilities are present in toddlers, enabling long-term word learning.
  • This research highlights the efficiency of early word-learning mechanisms in children.