Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Language Development01:22

Language Development

362
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...
362
The Nativist Approach01:21

The Nativist Approach

50
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...
50

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Interplay of semantic and phonological predictions in language comprehension: Insights from the visual world paradigm.

Cognition·2025
Same author

Developmental trajectories of predictive mechanisms in language comprehension.

Developmental psychology·2025
Same author

Hyper-speed meaning and form predictions: An EEG-based representational similarity analysis.

Psychonomic bulletin & review·2025
Same author

Mexican Spanish adaptation for the Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW).

Behavior research methods·2025
Same author

Bilingual Toddlers' Vocabulary Growth Interacts with Existing Knowledge and Cross-Linguistic Similarity.

Journal of child language·2025
Same author

The effects of phonological and semantic similarity on early referent identification.

Journal of experimental child psychology·2024

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 1, 2025

A Semantic Priming Event-related Potential ERP Task to Study Lexico-semantic and Visuo-semantic Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder
08:17

A Semantic Priming Event-related Potential ERP Task to Study Lexico-semantic and Visuo-semantic Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Published on: April 12, 2018

10.6K

Prime saliency in semantic priming with 18-month-olds.

Nicola Gillen1, Armando Quetzalcóatl Angulo-Chavira2, Kim Plunkett1

  • 1University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

Cognition
|March 8, 2024
PubMed
Summary

Eighteen-month-old infants show semantic priming, demonstrating a structured semantic system. Prime repetition enhances attention to related words, supporting early language development theories.

Keywords:
Eye-trackingLanguage developmentLexical semanticsRepetitionSemantic networks

More Related Videos

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
06:07

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

Published on: May 15, 2019

8.4K
Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms
07:31

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

6.6K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 1, 2025

A Semantic Priming Event-related Potential ERP Task to Study Lexico-semantic and Visuo-semantic Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder
08:17

A Semantic Priming Event-related Potential ERP Task to Study Lexico-semantic and Visuo-semantic Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Published on: April 12, 2018

10.6K
Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
06:07

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

Published on: May 15, 2019

8.4K
Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms
07:31

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

6.6K

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Linguistics

Background:

  • Semantic priming is a well-established phenomenon in adults, but its presence and mechanisms in pre-verbal infants are less understood.
  • Investigating early semantic processing provides insights into the foundational architecture of the human semantic system.
  • The inter-modal priming technique offers a valuable tool for probing cognitive processes in infants.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate semantic priming in 18-month-old infants.
  • To examine the influence of prime repetition on semantic priming effects.
  • To explore the role of stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) on priming.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized an inter-modal priming technique with 18-month-old infants.
  • Measured infant looking times as an indicator of semantic processing.
  • Manipulated prime repetition and prime-target stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA).

Main Results:

  • Prime repetition led to longer looking times for related primes compared to unrelated primes.
  • Priming effects varied with different stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs), including positive, negative, and null effects.
  • Findings support the existence of a structured semantic system in infants and are consistent with spreading activation and distributed models.

Conclusions:

  • Eighteen-month-old infants exhibit semantic priming, indicating a developed semantic system.
  • Prime repetition enhances the saliency of related semantic information.
  • The inter-modal priming task is effective for studying lexical-semantic structure in young infants.