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Preverbal Infants' Attention to Manner and Path: Foundations for Learning Relational Terms
Author(s) -
Pulverman Rachel,
Song Lulu,
HirshPasek Kathy,
Pruden Shan M.,
Golinkoff Roberta M.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12030
Subject(s) - psychology , motion (physics) , perception , cognitive psychology , path (computing) , event (particle physics) , language development , developmental psychology , process (computing) , language acquisition , cognitive science , communication , artificial intelligence , computer science , neuroscience , physics , mathematics education , quantum mechanics , programming language , operating system
In the world, the manners and paths of motion events take place together, but in language, these features are expressed separately. How do infants learn to process motion events in linguistically appropriate ways? Forty‐six English‐learning 7‐ to 9‐month‐olds were habituated to a motion event in which a character performed both a manner and a path, and then tested on events that changed the manner, path, both, or neither. Infants detected each type of change, but only the girls showed evidence of processing manner and path as independent features. This gender difference provides clues about the universal development of manner and path concepts from more basic perceptual skills. Results have implications for how representations of linguistically relevant semantic elements develop conceptually.