Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task
Published on: June 1, 2015
The roles of item repetition and position in infants' abstract rule learning
Christina Schonberg1, Gary F Marcus2, Scott P Johnson3
1University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA.
Abstract:
We asked whether 11- and 14- month-old infants' abstract rule learning, an early form of analogical reasoning, is susceptible to processing constraints imposed by limits in attention and memory for sequence position. We examined 11- and 14- month-old infants' learning and generalization of abstract repetition rules ("repetition anywhere," Experiment 1 or "medial repetition," Experiment 2) and ordering of specific items (edge positions, Experiment 3) in 4-item sequences. Infants were habituated to sequences containing repetition- and/or position-based structure and then tested with "familiar" vs. "novel" (random) sequences composed of new items. Eleven-month-olds (N = 40) failed to learn abstract repetition rules, but 14-month-olds (N = 40) learned rules under both conditions. In Experiment 3, 11-month-olds (N = 20) learned item edge positions in sequences identical to those in Experiment 2. We conclude that infant sequence learning is constrained by item position in similar ways as in adults.
Related Concept Videos
Observational Learning
Language Development
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...
Serial Position Effect
Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development
Exploration...
Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development
The Nativist Approach

