Neuroscience

Brains, behaviour and cognition.

• Oct 1, 20266 min

  ManyBabies 3 Found No Sign of Infant Rule Learning. That Is the Result.

  ManyBabies 3 tested 839 infants aged 5 to 12 months across 30 laboratories in a pre-registered conceptual replication of a 1999 study that reported abstract rule learning in 7-month-olds. Looking times did not differ significantly between test trials consistent and inconsistent with the rule, and a Bayesian analysis indicated strong evidence for a null effect. None of the pre-specified moderators, including age, multilingualism, or paradigm, changed this. The result constrains what the original finding can mean, but it does not show that infants are incapable of learning rules.