Infants Segment Continuous Events Using Transitional Probabilities. Issue 5 (18th April 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Stahl, Aimee E.; Romberg, Alexa R.; Roseberry, Sarah; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick; Hirsh‐Pasek, Kathryn
• Is Part Of: Child development. Volume 85:Issue 5(2014)
• Page Start: 1821
• Page End: 1826
• Publication Date: 2014-04-18
• Subjects: Child development -- Periodicals; Child psychology -- Periodicals; Child Development -- Periodicals; Child Development; Pediatrics -- Periodicals; Pedicatrics; 305.231
• DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12247
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0009-3920

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="cdev12247-abs-0001"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Throughout their 1st year, infants adeptly detect statistical structure in their environment. However, little is known about whether statistical learning is a primary mechanism for event segmentation. This study directly tests whether statistical learning alone is sufficient to segment continuous events. Twenty‐eight 7‐ to 9‐month‐old infants viewed a sequence of continuous actions performed by a novel agent in which there were no transitional movements that could have constrained the possible upcoming actions. At test, infants distinguished statistically intact units from less predictable ones. The ability to segment events using statistical structure may help infants discover other cues to event boundaries, such as intentions, and carve up the world of continuous motion in meaningful ways.</p> </abstract>