Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38822689›Full record

ArticleChild development

Becoming word meaning experts: Infants' processing of familiar words in the context of typical and atypical exemplars.

Haley Weaver, Martin Zettersten, Jenny R Saffran

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Child development. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Object Functions and Words Reexamined: Toddlers' Recognition of Function Depends on Object Type.Journal of cognition and development : official journal of the Cognitive Development Society · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Haley WeaverDepartment of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6849-0785
Martin ZetterstenDepartment of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0444-7059
Jenny R SaffranDepartment of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

Funding

Waisman Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center Down Syndrome RegistryU54HD090256 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI MESSING, ALBEE · 2016 to 2020
$6.0M
Statistical Learning in Language AcquisitionR37HD037466 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI SAFFRAN, JENNY R. · 2011 to 2019
$2.8M
Behavioral and neural mechanisms of active word learning in child-caregiver interactionsF32HD110174 · NICHD · PRINCETON UNIVERSITY · PI ZETTERSTEN, MARTIN CURTIS · 2022 to 2023
$132k
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development F32HD110174National Institute of Child Health and Human Development R37HD037466National Science Foundation GRFP DGE-1747503NICHD NIH HHS F32 HD110174NICHD NIH HHS R37 HD037466NICHD NIH HHS U54 HD090256
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

How do infants become word meaning experts? This registered report investigated the structure of infants' early lexical representations by manipulating the typicality of exemplars from familiar animal categories. 14- to 18-month-old infants (N = 84; 51 female; M = 15.7 months; race/ethnicity: 64% White, 8% Asian, 2% Hispanic, 1% Black, and 23% multiple categories; participating 2022-2023) were tested on their ability to recognize typical and atypical category exemplars after hearing familiar basic-level category labels. Infants robustly recognized both typical (d = 0.79, 95% CI [0.54, 1.03]) and atypical (d = 0.70, 95% CI [0.46, 0.94]) exemplars, with no significant difference between typicality conditions (d = 0.14, 95% CI [-0.08, 0.35]). These results support a broad-to-narrow account of infants' early word meanings. Implications for the role of experience in the development of lexical knowledge are discussed.

Indexed as

Language DevelopmentFemaleHumansInfantMaleRecognition, Psychology

Identifiers

PMID38822689
PMCPMC11576247

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.