Infants Segment Continuous Events Using Transitional Probabilities

Aimee E Stahl; Alexa R Romberg; Sarah Roseberry; Roberta Michnick Golinkoff; Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek

doi:10.1111/cdev.12247

journal article Sep 01, 2014

Infants Segment Continuous Events Using Transitional Probabilities

Aimee E Stahl Alexa R Romberg Sarah Roseberry Roberta Michnick Golinkoff

Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek

Child Development Vol. 85 No. 5 pp. 1821-1826 · Oxford University Press (OUP)

View at Publisher Save 10.1111/cdev.12247

Abstract

Abstract
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.

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Metrics

88

Citations

32

References

Details

Published: Sep 01, 2014
Vol/Issue: 85(5)
Pages: 1821-1826
License: View

Authors

A

Aimee E Stahl

Johns Hopkins University

Indiana University

University of Washington

R

Roberta Michnick Golinkoff

University of Delaware

K

Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek

Temple University

Funding

NSF Award: 0642632

NIH Ruth Kirschstein NRSA training grant Award: T32 HD007475-17

NICHHD Award: RO1HD050199

Cite This Article

Aimee E Stahl, Alexa R Romberg, Sarah Roseberry, et al. (2014). Infants Segment Continuous Events Using Transitional Probabilities. Child Development, 85(5), 1821-1826. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12247

Infants Segment Continuous Events Using Transitional Probabilities

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