One-year-old infants already display compositional abilities, study finds
**Study Reveals One-Year-Old Infants Exhibit Compositional Abilities**
A recent study has found that one-year-old infants demonstrate compositional abilities, a cognitive skill previously thought to emerge only after the development of language fluency. Compositionality refers to the capacity to mentally break down complex objects into simpler components and understand them as combinations of these elements. Until now, researchers believed this ability developed later in childhood, once children had acquired language skills.
The findings challenge earlier assumptions about the relationship between language and cognitive development. Researchers observed that even before acquiring speech, infants are capable of processing and representing complex objects through mental transformations. This suggests that compositional thinking may not be exclusively tied to linguistic abilities but could instead be an innate aspect of human cognition. The study provides new insights into early cognitive development and raises questions about how such abilities evolve independently of language acquisition.
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Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-year-infants-display-compositional-abilities.html
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