ManyBabies 3: A Multi‐Lab Study of Infant Algebraic Rule Learning
Developmental Science, vol. 29, pp. e70259
Abstract
The ability to learn and apply rules lies at the heart of cognition. In a seminal study, Marcus et al. (1999) reported that 7-month-old infants learned abstract rules over syllable sequences and were able to generalize those rules to novel syllable sequences. Dozens of studies have since replicated that finding and extended it using different rules, modalities, stimuli, participants (human adults and non-human animals) and experimental procedures. Yet questions remain about the generalizability of the core findings in Marcus et al., and sources of variation across these findings. In the current study, we address this issue by testing 839 infants (650 after exclusions) of a wide age range (5;0-12;0 months) in a multi-laboratory (30 laboratories, [31 samples]) conceptual replication of the Marcus et al. study. This study and the analysis plan were submitted as a registered report. A mixed-model analysis of the looking times at consistent versus inconsistent test trials indicated no significant effect. The current study therefore finds no evidence for rule-learning; to the contrary, a Bayesian analysis of the data indicated strong evidence for a null effect. This was similarly the case for the moderating factors that were part of the design: mono- versus multilingualism, age, and experimental paradigm; none of these factors showed significant effects. Robustness analyses indicated that the results were not different in the case of different choices in the (pre-)processing of the data. A follow-up analysis for single labs indicated that there was no evidence of rule-learning in 30 of the 31 contributed samples. The current finding raises fundamental issues about rule-learning that are presented in the Discussion section.
Authors 84
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Department of Psychology University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands
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Andreea Geambașu Aachen
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Leiden University Centre for Linguistics Leiden University Leiden the Netherlands
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Department of Psychology Stanford University Stanford California USA
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University of York · Cardiff University
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Psychology Department University of York York UK
School of Psychology Cardiff University Cardiff UK
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Department of Psychology Pennsylvania State University University Park Pennsylvania USA
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Princeton University · University of California San Diego
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Department of Cognitive Science University of California San Diego La Jolla California USA
Department of Psychology Princeton University Princeton New Jersey USA
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Department of Psychology University of Warwick Coventry UK
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Department of Psychology Concordia University Montréal Canada
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School of Psychology University of East Anglia Norwich UK
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Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders New York University New York USA
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Department of Psychology University of Warwick Coventry UK
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University of Newcastle Australia
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School of Psychological Sciences University of Newcastle Newcastle Australia
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Università di Camerino · University of Padua
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Center for Neuroscience, School of Advanced Studies University of Camerino Camerino Italy
Department of Developmental and Social Psychology University of Padua Padua Italy
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Department of Psychology Stanford University Stanford California USA
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Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics · Hochschule Osnabrück
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Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics Nijmegen the Netherlands
Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück Germany
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Department of Psychology University of Milano‐Bicocca Milan Italy
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University of British Columbia
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School of Audiology and Speech Sciences University of British Columbia British Columbia Canada
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Department of Psychology University of Milano‐Bicocca Milan Italy
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Department of Psychology Concordia University Montréal Canada
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Center for Research in Cognition & Neurosciences (CRCN) Université Libre de Bruxelles Brussels Belgium
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Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders New York University New York USA
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School of Social and Behavioral Sciences Arizona State University Phoenix Arizona USA
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Department of Psychology University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Psychology Lancaster University Lancaster UK
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Czech Academy of Sciences · Charles University · Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Psychology
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Faculty of Arts Charles University Prague Czechia
Institute of Psychology Czech Academy of Sciences Prague Czechia
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Psychology University of Padua Padua Italy
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University of Nevada, Las Vegas
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Department of Psychology University of Nevada Las Vegas Las Vegas Nevada USA
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Department of Linguistics Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
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Lifespan Health & Wellbeing Research Centre, School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences Macquarie University Sydney Australia
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Faculty of Psychology Ruhr University Bochum Bochum Germany
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Department of Psychology Durham University Durham UK
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Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science University of Trento Trento Italy
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Department of Educational Sciences University of Catania Catania Italy
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Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · University of Padua
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CNRS Paris France
Department of Developmental and Social Psychology University of Padua Padua Italy
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Centre for Psychological Research Oxford Brookes University Oxford UK
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Centre for Research on Equality in Education University of Oslo Oslo Norway
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University of Nevada, Las Vegas
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Department of Psychology University of Nevada Las Vegas Las Vegas Nevada USA
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Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making University of Haifa Haifa Israel
School of Psychological Sciences University of Haifa Haifa Israel
The Center for the Study of Child Development University of Haifa Haifa Israel
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Sagol School of Neuroscience Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel
School of Psychological Sciences Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel
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University of California, Los Angeles
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Department of Psychology University of California Los Angeles California USA
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Institute of Psychology University of Wrocław Wrocław Poland
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Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies University of Oslo Oslo Norway
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Children Helping Science Cambridge Massachusetts USA
Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge Massachusetts USA
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Department of Psychology University of Oslo Oslo Norway
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Department of BioSciences Rice University Houston Texas USA
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Centre for Psychological Research Oxford Brookes University Oxford UK
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School of Social and Behavioral Sciences Arizona State University Phoenix Arizona USA
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Czech Academy of Sciences · Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Psychology
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Institute of Psychology Czech Academy of Sciences Prague Czechia
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Czech Academy of Sciences · Charles University · Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Psychology
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Faculty of Arts Charles University Prague Czechia
Institute of Psychology Czech Academy of Sciences Prague Czechia
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University of Nevada, Las Vegas
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Department of Psychology University of Nevada Las Vegas Las Vegas Nevada USA
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Department of Psychology Princeton University Princeton New Jersey USA
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Department of Linguistics University of Ottawa Ottawa Canada
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School of Psychological Sciences Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel
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Department of Linguistics Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
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Department of Psychology University of Oslo Oslo Norway
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University of Wrocław · University of Oxford
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IDN Being Human, Institute of Psychology University of Wroclaw Wroclaw Poland
School of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography University of Oxford Oxford UK
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Centre for Brain Research University of Auckland Auckland New Zealand
School of Psychology University of Auckland Auckland New Zealand
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Department of Linguistics University of Vienna Vienna Austria
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Royal Holloway University of London
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Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London Egham UK
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University of Newcastle Australia
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School of Psychological Sciences University of Newcastle Newcastle Australia
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Department of Psychology University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands
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Department of Psychology University of Oslo Oslo Norway
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Department of Linguistics Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
Department of Special Education Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
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Royal Holloway University of London
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Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London Egham UK
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Department of Psychology University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands
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Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
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Département de Psychologie Université du Québec à Trois‐Rivières Trois‐Rivières Canada
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Institute of Psychology University of Wrocław Wrocław Poland
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School of Psychological Sciences University of Haifa Haifa Israel
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Department of Linguistics University of Vienna Vienna Austria
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Department of Psychology Stanford University Stanford California USA
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Department of Developmental and Social Psychology University of Padua Padua Italy
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Department of Psychology University of Manitoba Winnipeg Canada
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Department of Psychology University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland
Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland
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Department of Psychology University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland
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Department of Psychology Lancaster University Lancaster UK
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Department of Linguistics University of Vienna Vienna Austria
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Institute for Logic, Language, and Computation University of Amsterdam Amsterdam Netherlands
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Department of Psychology University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands
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Department of Linguistics University of Ottawa Ottawa Canada
School of Psychology University of Ottawa Ottawa Canada
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School of Psychology University of East Anglia Norwich UK
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Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science University of Trento Trento Italy
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Department of Pediatrics and Child Health University of Manitoba Winnipeg Canada
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Department of Psychology University of Manitoba Winnipeg Canada
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Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition Leiden the Netherlands
Leiden University Centre for Linguistics Leiden University Leiden the Netherlands
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