Can infants perceive and learn new information from extended reality?

As global societies increasingly embrace digital technologies, their integration into early childhood education becomes crucial for achieving United Nations sustainable developmental goals. The present study investigates whether extended reality (XR) environments effectively support infants' perception and learning capabilities. A total of 144 Australian infants aged 6–12 and 18–24 months were tested on their abilities to discriminate and learn non-native Mandarin tones under one of the three conditions, Live (face-to-face interaction), XR-Live (real-time virtual interaction), and XR-Recorded (pre-recorded virtual interaction). Infants successfully discriminated the tone contrast, with perception outcomes influenced by age and condition: older infants exhibited robust discrimination in both XR conditions, and long looking time in the Live condition. In object-label association, infants learned equally well in Live and both XR conditions, influenced by age and tone complexity—older infants learned better overall, particularly the acoustically complex dipping tone. Findings highlight XR's potential to effectively support sustainable cognitive and linguistic development, underscoring its promise for future integration in early educational and developmental interventions. Summary: Second-year infants demonstrated enhanced perceptual discrimination of non-native speech after targeted exposure in XR environments. Second-year infants showed robust attention to non-native speech following face-to-face interaction with a native speaker of that language. Second-year infants demonstrated equivalent learning of non-native speech across XR and face-to-face conditions, highlighting XR's potential to support early language development. Infants showed stronger learning of the acoustically complex dipping tone than the rising tone, with older infants outperforming their younger counterparts.