Objective Infants start knowing the meaning of some words by 6 months of age and by age two they know hundreds. The mechanisms behind the word learning processes subtending these feats are still poorly understood. Current accounts of infants’ word learning differ about the degree to which word learning is purely a product of increasingly sophisticated perceptual associations, versus a process in which associative learning is implicated, but the main engine of development is fundamentally social and timed by the infant’s grasp of the referential intentions of others when using language. The present project will explore the mechanisms behind word learning (1) by identifying the elements that lead to a word learning advantage in a social situation, (2) by assessing whether infants infer intention from social cues, or whether the latter merely refocus attention, and (3) by testing how long-term word learning is modulated by social cues in naturalistic situations. By assessing both infants (aged 6-10 months) and toddlers (aged 12-16 months), I will determine whether the mechanisms for word learning change with age. I will be able to characterize the role of social cues in young infants’ and toddlers' word learning for the first time by leveraging the cutting-edge technologies of gaze-contingent eye-tracking and infant-friendly automated toys. Fields of science social scienceseducational sciencesdidacticsengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunicationsmobile phonessocial sciencespsychologypsycholinguistics Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2014-GF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-GF) Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2014 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF-GF - Global Fellowships Coordinator ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE Net EU contribution € 246 668,40 Address 45, RUE D'ULM 75230 Paris France See on map Region Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 246 668,40 Partners (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all Partner Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement. THE TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA CORP United States Net EU contribution € 0,00 Address 3451 WALNUT STREET ROOM P 221 19104 Philadelphia See on map Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 160 130,40