Learning in Infancy^☆

Abstract

The study of infant learning has undergone radical changes in recent years, from an emphasis on classical and operant conditioning in the early 1900s to virtual oblivion during the early years of the Chomskian revolution, to a revival in recent years with the discovery of powerful statistical learning abilities. This article provides a brief history of learning and summarizes the emerging literature on infant statistical learning in the context several problems faced by infant learners.