Six month olds can understand meanings of words: Study

Updated on: Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Do you have a baby at home? Then, be careful what you say, as they can understand meanings of words at least six months earlier than previously thought.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that infants as young as six months learn the meanings of words for foods and body parts months before they speak those words.

And if parents speak to them normally it could improve heir language skills later on, the researchers said. The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, confounds traditional scientific thinking that babies start to grasp their meaning at about a year old. It was thought that children of that age could understand elements of the sound of their own native language but not connect the sounds to meanings.

But, the new study led by psychologists Elika Bergelson and Daniel Swingley found that when a caregiver repeated a statement such as "where's the apple", the child's eyes would move to the relevant object on a computer screen, the Daily Mail reported.

In a study of 33 youngsters aged six to nine months they found the kids would more their eyes to the correct object even when a clutter of different things were shown on screen.

In tests, the researchers found that the six- to nine-month-old babies fixed their gaze more on the picture that was named than on the other image or images, indicating that they understood that the word was associated with the appropriate object.

It is the first demonstration that children of this age can understand such words, Dr Swingley said. "There had been a few demonstrations of understanding before, involving words like mommy and daddy. Our study is different in looking at more generic words, words that refer to categories." Dr Swingley said.

The scientists said their 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," Dr Swingley said.

"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."

Dr Bergelson added: "We are 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 researchers also found no improvement in the pattern of learning from six months to nine months, although at 14 months word recognistion jumped dramatically.

Dr Swingley said: "May be what is going on with the 14-month olds is that they understand the nature of the task as a kind of game and they're playing it.

"Or the dramatic increase in performance at 14 months may be due to aspects of language development we did not measure specifically, including better categorisation of the speech signal, or better understanding of syntax."

Six month olds can understand meanings of words: Study

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