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February 15th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda WEDNESDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) — Babies can understand many
words sooner than they can actually say them, a new study indicates.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania say 6- to 9-month old
babies learn the meaning of the words for certain foods and body parts
through their daily exposure to language. They said most psychologists
don’t think this type of word comprehension is possible until a child is
closer to 1 year.
“I think it’s surprising in the sense that the kids at this age aren’t
saying anything, they’re not pointing, they’re not walking,” said the
study’s co-author, Elika Bergelson, a doctoral student in Penn’s
department of psychology, in a university news release. “But actually,
under the surface, they’re trying to put together the things in the world
with the words that go with them.”
In conducting the study, researchers had 33 babies between 6 and 9
months old view a screen with a picture of a food and a body part while
sitting with their parents. The parents were given phrases to say to the
child, asking them to find the apple, for instance. An eye-tracking device
revealed the babies’ responses to the phrases.
In a second test, the children went through the same process but saw
pictures of typical food scenes and a whole person, not just body parts.
After taking into account possible reasons for errors or distraction
among the babies, the researchers compared the responses of the 6- to
9-month-old infants with those of 50 other babies ranging from 10 to 20
months of age.
In both tests, the researchers found the 6- to 9-month-olds looked more
often at the picture that was named than any other images. The researchers
argued this was a sign that they knew what the word meant.
“There had been a few demonstrations of understanding before, involving
words like ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy,'” study co-author, Daniel Swingley, an
associate professor in the psychology department, said in the news
release. “Our study is different in looking at more generic words, words
that refer to categories.”
Bergelson added, “We’re testing things that look different every time
you see them. There’s some variety in apples and noses, and ‘nose’ doesn’t
just mean your nose; it could mean anybody’s nose. This is one of the
things that makes word learning complicated: Words often refer to
categories, not just individuals.”
The study’s authors said babies at 8 and 9 months performed no better
than 6- and 7-month-old infants. They said no significant improvement was
seen until the children reached about 14 months of age. They could not
explain exactly why performance did not improve for so long.
“I think this study presents a great message to parents: You can talk
to your babies and they’re going to understand a bit of what you’re
saying,” Swingley concluded. “They’re not going to give us back witty
repartee, but they understand some of it. And the more they know, the more
they can build on what they know.”
Their study was published online this week in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences.
More information
The U.S. National Institutes of Health provides more information on infant development.
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