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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 28, 2026

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

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

Conceptual perspective and lexical choice in acquisition

¹Department of Linguistics, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA. eclark@psych.stanford.edu

|July 1, 1997

Summary

Children readily learn multiple words for the same object, supporting the many-perspectives account of lexical acquisition. This contrasts with the one-perspective view, suggesting early flexibility in word learning.

Area of Science:

Developmental Psychology
Linguistics
Cognitive Science

Background:

Adult language use involves selecting words that reflect different perspectives on the same entity.
Lexical acquisition theories explain how children learn word meanings and their associated perspectives.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether children learn multiple perspectives along with new words.
To compare the 'many-perspectives' account with the 'one-perspective' account of early word learning.

Main Methods:

Analysis of spontaneous child language use, including novel word formation and perspective-shifting.
Examination of children's ability to learn new terms for already-labeled concepts.
Assessment of the role of pragmatic cues in word learning.

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Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

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Last Updated: Jul 28, 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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Using Eye Movements Recorded in the Visual World Paradigm to Explore the Online Processing of Spoken Language

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Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Published on: July 13, 2019

Main Results:

Children spontaneously use multiple terms for single objects, demonstrating early perspective-taking.
Children create novel words to signify alternative perspectives.
Children successfully learn new words and relate them to existing ones when provided with clear pragmatic directions.

Conclusions:

Evidence supports the many-perspectives account, indicating children learn word meanings and associated perspectives concurrently.
Children's early lexical development is characterized by flexibility in perspective-taking.
Effective pragmatic guidance from adults facilitates children's word learning and integration of new perspectives.