when young children are learning new words, they
âInterestingly, we observed that even from the time children mature from 18 to 30 months of age, the cues toddlers use to learn new words change.â. In the study, researchers taught six new words to children, who ranged in age from 18 to 36 months, using three types of cues. The cues were presented alone or in pairs, and the researchers recorded the childrenâs ability to accurately guess what the words meant.
During the first few years of life, children are mastering concrete words such as car, bottle, dog, cat. By age 3, children are likely able to learn these concrete words without the need for a visual reference, so word learning tends to accelerate around this age.