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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 17, 2026

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

Class matters: 12-month-olds' word-object associations privilege content over function words.

Heather MacKenzie¹, Suzanne Curtin, Susan A Graham

¹Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Canada.

Developmental Science

|October 31, 2012

Summary

Infants learn words by linking sounds to objects, but only if the sounds are noun-like. This shows sophisticated word learning abilities in babies before they can speak.

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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

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 17, 2026

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

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

Area of Science:

Developmental Psychology
Cognitive Science
Linguistics

Background:

Word learning is crucial for language development.
Early word learning involves forming associations between sounds and environmental elements.
The constraints on this associative ability in infants are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the nature of sound-object association in 12-month-old infants.
To determine if infants' word-object association abilities are constrained to specific word forms.

Main Methods:

Forty-eight 12-month-old infants participated.
Infants were habituated to novel English word-object pairings.
Two conditions were tested: content-like words (e.g., 'fep') and function-like words (e.g., 'iv').

Main Results:

Infants successfully associated novel content-like words with novel objects.
Infants did not associate novel function-like words with novel objects.
Mere associative pairings were insufficient for forming word-object mappings.

Conclusions:

Infants' word-object association mechanisms are sophisticated by 12 months of age.
The system requires well-formed, noun-like words to co-occur with objects for successful mapping.
This suggests an innate bias towards learning nouns over function words in early development.