Infant spatial categorization

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The current project explores how young children acquire the meanings that are expressed in language-specific semantic spatial categories. A multifaceted approach is taken in which aspects of both infant spatial cognition as well as the effect of language on infants' spatial categorization is examined across a number of experimental studies. In particular, a number of the experimental studies explore the content of infants' spatial categories (i.e., what types of spatial categories can preverbal and early-linguistic infants form?) as well as the underlying processes that guide infant categorization of spatial relations (i.e., what factors influence infants' categorization of spatial relations?). Additional experimental studies are designed to begin to outline the degree and mechanism by which linguistic input can influence infants' categorization of spatial events. For this reason, the types of spatial categories that English-learning infants and toddlers form will be compared to the types of spatial categories formed by Korean-learning infants and toddlers as well as those formed by Spanish-learning infants and toddlers. Other experimental studies explore whether the addition of linguistic input can facilitate infants' ability to form particular types of spatial categories. Together, the findings from the current project will provide insight into the nature of the interaction between infants' nonlinguistic spatial cognition and language during the first two years of development and will help elucidate how young children form the semantic spatial categories that are specific to their language. Finally, the findings will document whether the development of infant spatial categorization varies in infants and toddlers raised in different cultures and with languages other than English.