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Related Concept Videos

Language Development01:22

Language Development

596
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...
596
Components of Language01:24

Components of Language

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Language, whether spoken, signed, or written, consists of specific components: lexicon and grammar. The lexicon is the vocabulary of a language, comprising its words. Grammar is the set of rules used to convey meaning through the lexicon. For example, English grammar adds “-ed” to most verbs to indicate past tense. Words are formed by combining phonemes, which are the basic sound units of a language. Different languages have different sets of phonemes (e.g., “ah” vs.
542
Mnemonic Devices01:23

Mnemonic Devices

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Mnemonic devices are cognitive tools that facilitate memory retention by linking new information to familiar patterns or organizational strategies. These techniques are beneficial for remembering complex or lengthy sets of information by simplifying and structuring them in easily retrievable ways.
Acronyms
Acronyms are created by using the initial letters of a series of words to form a new word or phrase. This approach condenses complex information into a single, memorable entity. For example,...
228
Language and Cognition01:27

Language and Cognition

529
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.
529
Levels of Organization01:09

Levels of Organization

133.7K
Biological organization is the classification of biological structures, ranging from atoms at the bottom of the hierarchy to the Earth's biosphere. Each level of the hierarchy represents an increase in complexity that builds upon the previous level.
Molecules Are Composed of Atoms, and Biomolecules Are Assembled from Molecules:
The most basic levels include atoms, molecules, and biomolecules. Atoms, the smallest unit of ordinary matter, are composed of a nucleus and electrons. Molecules...
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Purposive Learning01:22

Purposive Learning

261
E. C. Tolman emphasized the purposiveness of behavior — the idea that much of our behavior is goal-directed. For instance, employees who aim for a promotion work diligently to meet their targets. Tolman argued that when classical conditioning and operant conditioning occur, the organism acquires certain expectations. In classical conditioning, a child might fear a dog because they expect it to bite. In operant conditioning, a person might consistently work overtime because they expect a...
261

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Updated: Nov 4, 2025

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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Learning word order: early beginnings.

Irene de la Cruz-Pavía1, Caterina Marino2, Judit Gervain3

  • 1Department of Developmental and Social Psychology (DPSS), Università di Padova, Padua, Italy; Department of Linguistics and Basque Studies, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Ikerbasque - Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain.

Trends in Cognitive Sciences
|May 30, 2021
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Infants learn word order early, distinguishing function and content words by 8 months. This developmental process highlights how early language acquisition bootstraps grammar from input cues.

Keywords:
bootstrapping hypothesescontent wordsfunctorsgrammarlanguage acquisitionword order

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Linguistics
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • The acquisition of word order, specifically the relative positioning of function and content words, is a crucial yet variable aspect of grammar development.
  • Existing research indicates infants possess early linguistic capabilities, but the precise mechanisms and developmental timelines require further elucidation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the initial stages of acquiring the relative order of function and content words in infants.
  • To explore the developmental relevance of processing linguistic information differently compared to adults and non-human animals.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing empirical literature on infant language acquisition.
  • Analysis of studies examining the distinction between functors and content words in early development.
  • Comparative analysis of infant, adult, and animal processing of linguistic information.

Main Results:

  • Infants as young as 8 months can differentiate between function and content words.
  • A rudimentary understanding of the native language's word order for these categories is present in 8-month-old infants.
  • Significant differences exist in how infants, adults, and animals process the same linguistic input, underscoring developmental distinctions.

Conclusions:

  • Early language acquisition involves bootstrapping the order of function and content words from surface cues in the linguistic input.
  • Findings support a synergistic model of language acquisition, where grammatical development is intertwined with word learning processes.