When Half a Word Is Enough: Infants Can Recognize Spoken Words Using Partial Phonetic Information.

Fernald, Anne; Swingley, Daniel; Pinto, John P.

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Peer reviewed

ERIC Number: EJ641691

Record Type: Journal

Publication Date: 2001

Pages: N/A

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ISSN: ISSN-0009-3920

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When Half a Word Is Enough: Infants Can Recognize Spoken Words Using Partial Phonetic Information.

Fernald, Anne; Swingley, Daniel; Pinto, John P.

Child Development, v72 n4 p1003-15 Jul-Aug 2001

Two experiments tracked infants' eye movements to examine use of word-initial information to understand fluent speech. Results indicated that 21- and 18-month-olds recognized partial words as quickly and reliably as whole words. Infants' productive vocabulary and reaction time were related to word recognition accuracy. Results show that second-year infants can process speech incrementally even before entering the vocabulary spurt. (Author/KB)

Descriptors: Age Differences, Cognitive Development, Comparative Analysis, Eye Movements, Infant Behavior, Infants, Performance Factors, Reaction Time, Speech Communication, Verbal Stimuli, Word Recognition

Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research

Education Level: N/A

Audience: N/A

Language: English

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Authoring Institution: N/A

Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A