7.5-month-olds' memory for words after a 1-week delay

In order to build a vocabulary, infants must segment the sound patterns of words from the context of fluent speech and learn their referents. A first step that infants take in building a vocabulary is to encode sound patterns of words into long-term memory, enabling them to recognize the words at different times and in a variety of different contexts. Several studies have addressed infants’ ability to encode the sound pattern of words and recognize them in the context of fluent speech. Jusczyk & Aslin (1995) discovered that 7.5-month-old English-learning infants are able to recognize the sound patterns of words in passages when tested immediately after familiarization with the words. Houston and Jusczyk (2001) extended those findings by showing that 7.5-montholds were able to recognize familiarized words one day after familiarization. In this study, we investigated the possibility that infants can retain information about the sound patterns of words for a much greater period of time – up to one week.