Ponca City, We Love You writes "Toddlers' brains can
effortlessly do what the most powerful computers with the most
sophisticated software cannot: learn language simply by hearing
it used. A ground-breaking new theory postulates that young
children are able to learn large groups of words rapidly by
data-mining. Researchers Linda Smith and Chen Yu attempted to
teach 28 children, 12 to 14 months old, six words by showing
them two objects at a time on a computer monitor while two pre-
recorded words were read to them. No information was given
regarding which word went with which image. After viewing
various combinations of words and images, however, the children
were surprisingly successful at figuring out which word went
with which picture. Yu and Smith say it's possible that the more
words tots hear, and the more information available for any
individual word, the better their brains can begin
simultaneously ruling out and putting together word-object
pairings, thus learning what's what. Yu says if they can iden