Mechanisms of Statistical Learning in Infancy

Statistical learning is the process of identifying patterns of probabilistic co-occurrence among stimulus features, essential to our ability to perceive the world as predictable and stable. Research on auditory statistical learning has revealed that infants use statistical properties of linguistic input to discover structure that may facilitate language acquisition. More broadly, statistical learning operates across sensory modalities and across species. Research on infants’ visual statistical learning has revealed that statistical learning develops over time, yet the mechanisms (including developmental mechanisms) underlying infant performance remain unclear. This chapter examines competing models of statistical learning and how learning might be constrained by limits in infants’ attention, perception, and memory.