Infants' ability to form verb-action associations

Four- to eight-month-old infants (n=56) were examined on their ability to acquire verb meaning. In a visual preference procedure they were tested on their ability to form verb-action associations by detecting the correlation between auditory speech stimuli and actions presented in short movie clips on a screen. If associations were formed, they were expected to significantly modify their looking behavior after exposure, looking closer to the target than during baseline. Instead of measuring total looking time as response, distance to target was the chosen measure. Eight-month-olds as well as a reference group of adults acquired the verb-action associations. Thus, eight months is the youngest age at which verb meaning acquisition could be demonstrated so far