A lot is unknown about how infants begin to connect names with objects, a critical skill for later language development. A new study by Indiana University researchers offers a fresh perspective on how infants reach this milestone in human development.
The work, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is led by Linda Smith, Distinguished Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at IU Bloomington, and Elizabeth Clerkin, a postdoctoral researcher in the department.
Before they can speak, infants between the ages of 7 and 11 months begin to pair the words they hear with the everyday objects in their surroundings. To explain this phenomenon, the field of developmental psychology has focused on “naming moments,” when the names and objects are presented to the infant at the same time.
However, the names…
