A cross-linguistic investigation of infant familiar word recognition across ages - The ManyBabies-AtHome: Looking-While-Listening project
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The current study aims to examine the developmental trajectory of word recognition in infants learning different languages across different ages, using an online adaptation of the traditional Looking-While-Listening paradigm. Specifically, we aim to examine whether children’s word recognition as indexed by speed and accuracy of their looking toward a named referent varies as a function of (1) age of the child, (2) whether their caregiver indicated that they understand the word, and (3) the language they are learning. Infants between 10-24-months from various countries and learning various languages will be recruited by research teams across the world to participate in the study, with the goal of 48 infants for each language. Children will be presented with two familiar objects on the screen while hearing the label of one of the objects embedded in a carrier phrase. Additionally, caregivers will also report children’s knowledge of the presented words through a questionnaire. We predict that infant word recognition accuracy and speed will improve as they grow older. However, given the mixed evidence for convergence between parent reports and children’s word recognition, and the possibility that there may be variation in the relationship between caregiver report and performance across languages due to linguistic differences, the nature of the association between parental report of word knowledge or language background on children’s word recognition remains an open empirical question. With our approach, we aim to build a more inclusive model of studying infant word recognition, and to develop more resource-friendly adaptations for cross-linguistic research.
Institution: Princeton University
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W7160075966
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