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The Comprehension Boost in Early Word Learning: Older Infants Are Better Learners

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Bergelson, Elika·2020·Child Development Perspectives
DOI 10.1111/cdep.12373PMC PMC7872330
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Abstract

Recent research has revealed that infants begin understanding words at around 6 months. After that, infants’ comprehension vocabulary increases gradually in a linear way over 8–18 months, according to data from parental checklists. In contrast, infants’ word comprehension improves robustly, qualitatively, and in a nonlinear way just after their first birthday, according to data from studies on spoken word comprehension. In this review, I integrate observational and experimental data to explain these divergent results. I argue that infants’ comprehension boost is not well-explained by changes in their language input for common words, but rather by proposing that they learn to take better advantage of relatively stable input data. Next, I propose potentially complementary theoretical accounts of what makes older infants better learners. Finally, I suggest how the research community can expand our empirical base in this understudied area, and why doing so will inform our knowledge about child development.

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Metadata

Authors
Bergelson, E.
Affiliations
Duke University (US)
Corresponding author
Bergelson, Elika
ORCID
Bergelson, Elika
Venue
Child Development Perspectives
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2020-08-09
Volume
14
Issue
3
Pages
142-149
ISSN
  • 1750-8592 (ISSN-L)
  • 1750-8606
DOI
10.1111/cdep.12373
PMC
PMC7872330
OpenAlex
W3034613146
Cited by
82
References
4
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 1
FWCI
7.51
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Child Development Perspectives (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institutes of Health (DP5-OD019812, DP5‐OD019812)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
Keywords
word learning, spoken word comprehension, vocabulary development, language acquisition, nonlinear development, language input, child development

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: The Comprehension Boost in Early Word Learning: Older Infants Are Better Learners. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1111/cdep.12373
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Bergelson, E. (2020). The Comprehension Boost in Early Word Learning: Older Infants Are Better Learners. Child Development Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12373