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Related Concept Videos

Language Development01:22

Language Development

1.0K
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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Language and Cognition01:27

Language and Cognition

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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.
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The Nativist Approach01:21

The Nativist Approach

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The nativist approach to infant cognitive development proposes that infants are born with inherent knowledge structures that allow them to interpret the world almost immediately. This perspective contrasts with earlier developmental theories, such as those proposed by Jean Piaget, which emphasized a more gradual acquisition of cognitive abilities through interaction with the environment. One key concept in this approach is object permanence — the understanding that objects continue to...
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Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development01:14

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development

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The sensorimotor stage, the initial phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, spans the first two years of a child's life. During this period, infants actively engage with their surroundings, building cognitive awareness through direct interaction with the world. This interaction is primarily based on sensory perception and motor actions, allowing infants to gradually understand basic physical properties and predict how objects interact within their environment.
Exploration...
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Language01:16

Language

975
Language is a unique communication system that uses words and systematic rules to organize and transmit information. Unlike other forms of communication, which may involve postures, movements, odors, or vocalizations, language relies on symbols and grammar. This makes human communication distinct from that of other species, who also communicate but do not use language in the same way humans do.
Corballis and Suddendorf (2007) and Tomasello and Rakoczy (2003) highlight the role of language in...
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How Data are Classified: Categorical Data01:11

How Data are Classified: Categorical Data

47.3K
A variable, usually notated by capital letters such as X and Y, is a characteristic or measurement that can be determined for each member of a population. Data are the actual values of variables. They may be numbers, or they may be words. Datum is a single value.
Data are classified based on whether they are measurable or not. Categorical data cannot be measured; instead, it can be divided into categories. For example, if Y denotes a person's party affiliation, some examples of Y include...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 12, 2026

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

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Linking language and categorization in infancy.

Brock Ferguson1, Sandra Waxman1

  • 1Northwestern University.

Journal of Child Language
|November 11, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Early language exposure shapes infant object categorization. Infants learn language as a social cue, later understanding its referential meaning to distinguish object types and properties.

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Creating Objects and Object Categories for Studying Perception and Perceptual Learning
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Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization
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Creating Objects and Object Categories for Studying Perception and Perceptual Learning
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Area of Science:

  • Developmental psychology
  • Cognitive science
  • Linguistics

Background:

  • Language significantly influences conceptual development.
  • Early infant cognition shows a link between language and object categorization.
  • This link develops progressively from infancy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review evidence on the developmental origins of the language-categorization link in infants.
  • To propose a model of how language acquisition influences conceptual development.
  • To compare this model with alternative explanations for language's effect on categorization.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing developmental studies on infant language and categorization.
  • Analysis of how early language-cognition links form foundational pathways.
  • Examination of infants' understanding of referential language and word types.

Main Results:

  • Early language acquisition, as a social signal, aids infant categorization.
  • By the second year, infants differentiate word types (nouns, adjectives) and their conceptual relations.
  • Evidence supports a cascading developmental process from general to specific conceptual understanding.

Conclusions:

  • Language acquisition is a key driver of conceptual development in infants.
  • Infants' understanding of language evolves from social cues to referential meaning.
  • The developmental trajectory highlights the interplay between linguistic input and cognitive categorization.