'Infants May Be Able To Identify New Object At Age 15 Months From Hearing About It'

Infants as young as 15 months old could identify an object they have learned about from listening to adults talk about it -- even if the object remains hidden, a new study has found.

- Press Trust of India

While adults are known to be able to learn new words for objects never seen first-hand, researchers from the Northwestern and Harvard universities, US, said it is not known how early this ability becomes available.

“Many people believe that success in word learning requires that the infant 'map' a new word to an object that is physically present (e.g., “Look at the kumquat!”),” senior author Sandra Waxman, a developmental scientist and professor of psychology, Northwestern University, said.

“But in the natural course of a day, it is very common for us -- and for infants -- to hear words when the objects to which they refer to are not available to our immediate perception,” Waxman said.