The Conversation article: Babies learn a lot in their first year. But their behaviour doesn’t always tell the full story

Description

This article discusses our new research on how early language learning unfolds across the first year of life. The findings show that while infants can learn patterns about how speech sounds are produced as early as four months of age, the way this knowledge is expressed changes over time. Rather than developing in a linear fashion, early language learning appears to involve periods of reorganisation, where behaviour may not clearly reflect underlying knowledge. The work highlights the importance of studying development longitudinally and cautions against relying on single time-point measures.

Subject

Early language development is not linear: evidence for reorganisation in infants’ speech learning across the first year