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Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

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Memory load affects object individuation in 18-month-old infants.

Jennifer M Zosh¹, Lisa Feigenson

¹Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, Brandywine Campus, Media, PA 19063, USA. jzosh@psu.edu

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

|August 31, 2012

Summary

Infants

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Neuroscience

Background:

Object individuation is crucial for understanding the environment.
Infant individuation abilities are studied by examining feature use.
The role of memory in infant individuation remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how memory load affects infants' ability to individuate multiple objects.
To determine if featural contrast influences individuation performance under memory load.

Main Methods:

18-month-old infants participated in three experiments.
Infants observed one, two, or three objects being hidden and retrieved.
Object identity changes occurred on some trials to test individuation using mismatches.

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Last Updated: May 19, 2026

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

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

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

Published on: April 28, 2016

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

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

Main Results:

Infant individuation success decreased as memory load increased.
Higher featural contrast between objects improved individuation performance.
Increased memory load appears to reduce representational precision.

Conclusions:

Memory constraints significantly impact infant object individuation.
Findings suggest a trade-off between memory capacity and representational detail.
Results may inform understanding of adult working memory limitations.