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Updated: Oct 12, 2025

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
Infants actively seek and transmit knowledge via communication
Marina Bazhydai1, Paul L Harris2
1Psychology Department, Fylde College, Lancaster University, LancasterLA1 4YW, UKm.bazhydai@lancaster.ac.uk.
Preverbal infants actively communicate knowledge and ignorance, suggesting knowledge representation precedes belief representation. These early social learning skills appear unique to human development.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Developmental Psychology
- Infant Cognition
Background:
- Belief representation is traditionally considered fundamental in cognitive development.
- Emerging evidence suggests infants possess sophisticated representational abilities earlier than previously thought.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the primacy of knowledge representation over belief representation in preverbal infants.
- To explore infants' active and selective communication strategies based on their understanding of knowledge and ignorance.
- To examine the role of early information seeking and transmission in human social learning.
Main Methods:
- Observational studies of preverbal infants' communication behaviors.
- Analysis of selective information seeking and transmission in social learning contexts.
- Comparative analysis of infant cognitive capacities.
Main Results:
- Preverbal infants demonstrate active and selective communication, indicating a representation of knowledge and ignorance.
- Infants engage in deliberate information seeking and transmission during social learning.
- These capacities emerge early in ontogeny and appear unique to humans.
Conclusions:
- Knowledge representation is a more fundamental cognitive capacity than belief representation in human infants.
- Early developing social learning, including information seeking and transmission, is crucial for human development.
- The findings challenge traditional views of infant cognition and highlight the unique trajectory of human social learning.
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