Our research attempts to answer questions like these:

How do children learn words so quickly?

Between 18 months and 6 years of age, children learn over 10,000 new words! What strategies do they use to figure out what words mean?

How does learning what something is called change how children think about it?

When older children learn the name of an object, it can really affect how they think about that object. For example, when they learn that a penguin can be called a “bird,” they might infer that penguins hatch from eggs—even though they have never actually been told this piece of information. Can toddlers and even infants also make use of words to extend their knowledge in this way?

Why do children sometimes reject linguistically provided information?

When adults label objects for young children, they usually do so accurately. And yet, as any parent can attest, children sometimes refuse to accept adult-provided labels—sometimes even vigorously objecting to them! Why would they do that?

Do children pay attention to sources of information?

How do preschoolers know that their parents are normally more reliable informers about what things are called than their younger brothers or sisters? Are they aware that some of their peers are likely to have particular pockets of expertise different from their own?

How do we answer these kinds of questions?

By relying on the support of families like yours! Please consider registering your child to participate using our on-line form. If you would like more information, feel free to browse this site, download a .pdf file of our most recent newsletter, and/or contact us directly.