Picture book for better word learning - Version 2

For babies aged 11 to 13 months who learn English as their first language and are located in the USA. Only participants who have not previously completed the original "Picture book for better word learning study" are eligible.

This study is only for families who have NOT previously completed the original "Picture book for better word learning" study. In this study, babies will first watch a video of an experimenter pointing to colorful objects and naming them, including one that is hidden. This is the initial test of babies' learning a word for a hidden object. Babies will be randomly assigned to Experimental, Control, or Switch Word Condition. After that we will ask parents to log in again, once a day, for 7 consecutive days and read our picture book to their babies. Following this longitudinal part, we will repeat the same activity that babies saw on the very first day. We will also test babies' knowledge of the words from the book.

We want to understand if babies at 11-13 months can learn new word meanings without seeing the objects they stand for. If three familiar objects shown are fruits, can babies infer that the hidden object is also a fruit and learn its name? Knowing when babies first realize that words can stand for things that are not present will help us understand how and when they begin to learn new information about this they have never seen from language and how this process might be interrupted by language delays.

10 minutes per day, 9 days

The compensation for the entire study is $15 dollars. We will send a $5 Amazon gift card within a week after 7 book reading sessions are complete. We will send an additional $10 Amazon card within a week after the final session is complete. To be eligible for compensation, the following criteria must be met: (1) your child must be in the age range for this study and be learning English as their first language; (2) you need to submit a valid video consent statement; (3) we need to see that there is a child with you in the study participation video. One child can only participate in the entire study sequence once.