2024
Saffran, J. (2024). Statistical Learning. In M. C. Frank & A. Majid (Eds.), Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.21428/e2759450.7a74eed8
Weaver, H., Zettersten, M., & Saffran, J. R. (2024). Becoming word meaning experts: Infants’ processing of familiar words in the context of typical and atypical exemplars. Child Development. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14120
, , & (2024). Toddlers’ prior social experience with speakers influences their word learning. Infancy, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12608
2023
Breitfeld, E., & Saffran, J. R. (2023). Early word learning is influenced by physical environments. Child Development. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14046
2022
Zettersten, M., Pomper, R., & Saffran, J. R. (2022). Valid points and looks: Reliability and validity go hand-in-hand when improving infant methods. Infant and Child Development. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.2326
Ruba, A., Pollak, S. D., & Saffran, J. R. (2022). Acquiring complex communicative systems: Statistical learning of language and emotion. Topics in Cognitive Science. DOI: 10.1111/tops.12612
Prescott, K., Mathée, J., Reuter, T., Edwards, J., Saffran, J. R., & Ellis Weismer, S. (2022). Predictive language processing in young autistic children. Autism Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2684.
Bacon, D., & Saffran, J. (2022). Role of speaker gender in toddler lexical processing. Infancy. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.1245.
2021
Mathée, J., Larson, C., Venker, C., Pomper, R., Edwards, J., Saffran, J. R., & Ellis Weismer, S. (2021).Use of mutual exclusivity and its relationship to language ability in toddlers with autism spectrumdisorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05321-0
Bacon, D., Weaver, H. J., & Saffran, J. R. (2021). A framework for online experimenter-moderated looking-time studies assessing infants’ linguistic knowledge. Frontiers in Psychology, September 24, 2021.
Pomper, R., Kaushanskaya, M., & Saffran, J. R. (2021). Change is hard: Individual differences in children’s lexical processing and executive functions after a shift in dimensions. Language Learning & Development. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2021.1947289
Pomper, R., Ellis Weismer, S., Saffran, J. R., & Edwards, J. (2021). Coarticulation facilitates language processing for toddlers with autism. Cognition, 214, 104799.
Benitez, V.L., & Saffran, J.R. (2021). Two for the price of one: Concurrent learning of words and phonotactic regularities from continuous speech. PLoS ONE, 16(6): e0253039.
2020
Venker, C., Mathée, J., Neumann, D., Edwards, J., Saffran, J. R., & Ellis Weismer, S. (2020). Competing perceptual salience in a visual word recognition task differentially affects children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2457
Zettersten, M., & Saffran, J. R. (2020). Sampling to learn words: Adults and children sample words that reduce referential ambiguity. Developmental Science. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13064
Santolin C., Garcia-Castro G., Zettersten M., Sebastian-Galles N. & Saffran J.R. (2020). Experience with research paradigms relates to infants’ direction of preference. Infancy. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12372
Zettersten, M., Potter, C., & Saffran, J. R. (2020). Tuning in to non-adjacent dependencies: Experience with learnable patterns supports discovery otherwise difficult novel structures. Cognition. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104283
Wang, T., Potter, C., & Saffran, J. R. (2020). Plasticity in second language learning: The case of Mandarin tones. Language Learning and Development. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2020.1737072
Saffran, J. R. (2020). Statistical language learning in infancy. Child Development Perspectives, 14, 49-54. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12355
Venker, C. E., Pomper, R., Mahr, T., Edwards, J., Saffran, J., & Ellis Weismer, S. (2020). Comparing Automatic Eye Tracking and Manual Gaze Coding Methods in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism Research, 13, 271-283.
Benitez, V., Bulgarelli, F., Byers-Heinlein, K., Saffran, J. R., & Weiss, D. (2020). Statistical learning of multiple speech streams: A challenge for monolingual infants. Developmental Science, 23, e12896.
2019 – 2016
Breen, M., Pomper, R., & Saffran, J. R. (2019). Phonological learning influences label-object mapping in toddlers. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 62, 1923-1932. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_JSLHR-L-18-0131
Pomper, R., Ellis Weismer, S., Saffran, J. R., & Edwards, J. (2019). Specificity of phonological representations for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49, 3351-3363. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04054-5
Santolin, C., Russo, S., Calignano, G., Saffran, J. R., & Valenza, E. (2019). The role of prosody in infants’ preference for speech: A comparison between speech and birdsong. Infancy. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12295
Santolin, C., & Saffran, J. R. (2019) Non-linguistic grammar learning for 12-month-old infants: Evidence for constraints on learning. Journal of Cognition & Development. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2019.1604525
Venker, C. E., Edwards, J., Saffran, J. R., & Ellis Weismer, S. (2019). Thinking Ahead: Incremental Language Processing is Associated with Receptive Language Abilities in Preschools with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49, 1011-1023.
Peng, Z. E., Hess, C., Saffran, J. R., Edwards, J. R., & Litovsky, R. Y. (2019). Assessing Fine-Grained Speech Discrimination in Young Children With Bilateral Cochlear Implants. Otology & Neurobiology, 40, e191-e197.
Saffran, J. R. (2018). Statistical learning as a window into developmental disabilities. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-018-9252-y.
Benitez, V., & Saffran, J. R. (2018). Predictable events enhance word learning in toddlers. Current Biology. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.06.017.
Pomper, R., & Saffran, J. R. (2018). Familiar object salience affects novel word learning. Child Development. doi:10.1111/cdev.13053.
Zettersten, M., Wojcik, E. W., Benitez, V., & Saffran, J. R. (2018). The company objects keep: Linking referents together during cross-situational word learning. Journal of Memory & Language, 99, 62-73.
Santolin, C., & Saffran, J. R. (2018). Constraints on statistical learning across species. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22, 52-63.
Saffran, J.R., & Kirkham, N. Z. (2018). Infant Statistical Learning. Annual Review of Psychology, 69, 2.1-2.23.
Potter, C. E., & Saffran, J. R. (2017). Exposure to multiple accents supports infants’ understanding of novel accents. Cognition, 166, 67-72.
Potter, C. E., Wang, T., & Saffran, J. R. (2017). Second Language Experience Facilitates Statistical Learning of Novel Linguistic Materials. Cognitive Science. 913-927.
McMillan, B. T. M. and Saffran, J. R. (2016), Learning in Complex Environments: The Effects of Background Speech on Early Word Learning. Child Development. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12559.
Pomper, R., & Saffran, J. R. (2016). Roses are red, socks are blue: Switching dimensions disrupts young children’s language processing. PLoS ONE 11(6): e0158459. doi:10.1371/journal.
Ellis Weismer, S., Haebig, E., Edwards, J., Saffran, J. R., & Venker, C. E. (2016). Lexical processing in toddlers with ASD: Does weak central coherence play a role? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46, 3755-3769.
Cashon, C. H., Ha, O. R., Graf Estes, K., Saffran, J. R., & Mervis, C. B. (2016). Infants with Williams Syndrome detect statistical regularities in continuous speech. Cognition, 154, 165-168.
Venker, C. E., Haebig, E., Edwards, J., Saffran, J. R., & Ellis Weismer, S. (2016). Brief Report: Early lexical comprehension in young children with ASD: Comparing eye-gaze methodology and parent report. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46, 2260-2266.
Perry, L. K., & Saffran, J. R. (2016). Is a Pink Cow Still a Cow? Individual Differences in Toddlers’ Vocabulary Knowledge and Lexical Representations. Cognitive Science. doi: 10.1111/cogs.12370.
2015 – 2011
Potter, C. E., & Saffran, J.R. (2015). The role of experience in children’s discrimination of unfamiliar languages. Frontiers in Psychology. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01587.
Mahr, T., McMillan, B. T. M., Saffran, J. R., Ellis Weismer, S., & Edwards, J. (2015). Anticipatory coarticulation facilitates word recognition in toddlers. Cognition, 142, 345-350.
Wojcik, E. H., & Saffran, J. R. (2015). Toddlers encode similarities among novel words from meaningful sentences. Cognition, 138, 10-20.
Hay, J. F., Graf Estes, K., Wang, T., & Saffran, J. R. (2015). From flexibility to constraint: The contrastive use of lexical tone in early word learning. Child Development, 86(1), 10-22. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12269
Wang, T., & Saffran, J. R. (2014). Statistical learning of a tonal language: The influence of bilingualism and previous linguistic experience. Front. Psychol. 5:953. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00953.
Willits, J.A., Seidenberg, M.S., & Saffran, J.R. (2014). Distributional structure in language: Contributions to difficulty differences in infant word recognition. Cognition, 132(3), 429-436. livepage.apple.com
Wojcik, E. H., & Saffran, J. R. (2013). The Ontogeny of Lexical Networks: Toddlers Encode the Relationships Among Referents When Learning Novel Words. Psychological Science, 24(10), 1898-1905. doi: 10.1177/0956797613478198
Wojcik, E. H. (2013). Remembering new words: Integrating early memory development into word learning. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 4, 151.
Venker, C. E., Eernisse, E. R., Saffran, J. R., & Ellis Weismer, S. (2013). Individual differences in the real-time comprehension of children with ASD. Autism Research, 6, 417-432.
Lany, J., & Saffran, J. R. (2013). Statistical learning mechanisms in infancy. In Rubenstein, J. L. R. & Rakic, P. (eds.) Comprehensive Developmental Neuroscience: Neural Circuit Development and Function in the Brain, 3, pp. 231-248. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Willits, J. A., Wojcik, E. H., Seidenberg, M S., & Saffran, J. R. (2013). Toddlers activate lexical semantic knowledge in the absence of visual referents: Evidence from auditory priming. Infancy. doi: 10.1111/infa.12026.
Romberg, A. R. & Saffran, J. R. (2013). All together now: Concurrent learning of multiple structures in an artificial language. Cognitive Science. doi: 10.1111/cogs.12050.
Romberg, A. R. & Saffran. J R. (2013). Expectancy learning from probabilistic input by infants. Frontiers in Psychology. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00610
Hay, J.H., & Saffran, J.R. (2012). Rhythmic grouping biases constrain infant statistical learning. Infancy, 1-32.
Lew-Williams, C., & Saffran, J.R. (2012). All words are not created equal: Expectations about word length guide infant statistical learning. Cognition, 2012, 241-246.
Brandon, M., & Saffran, J. R. (2011). Apparent motion enhances visual rhythm discrimination in infancy. Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 76, 1016-1020.
Lany, J., Saffran, J.R. (2011). Interactions between statistical and semantic information in infant language development. Developmental Science, 14, 1207-1219
Hay, J.F., Pelucchi, B., Graf Estes, K., & Saffran, J.R. (2011). Linking sounds to meaning: Infant statistical learning in a natural language. Cognitive Psychology, 63, 93-106.
Lew-Williams, C., Pelucchi, B., & Saffran, J. R. (2011). Isolated words enhance statistical language learning in infancy. Developmental Science.
Graf Estes, K., Edwards, J., & Saffran, J.R. (2011). Phonotactic constraints on infant word learning. Infancy, 16, 180-197.
2010 – 2006
Romberg, A. R., Saffran, J.R. (2010). Statistical learning and language acquisition. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, n/a. doi:10.1002/wcs.78
Sahni, S. D., Seidenberg, M., Saffran, J.R. (2010). Connecting cues: Overlapping regularities support cue discovery in infancy. Child Development, 81, p. 727-736.
Lany, J., Saffran, J.R. (2010). From statistics to meaning: Infants’ acquisition of lexical categories. Psychological Science, published online 8 January 2010. doi:10.1177/0956797609358570
Grieco-Calub, T., Saffran, J.R., Litovsky, R. (2009). Spoken Word Recognition in Toddlers Who Use Cochlear Implants. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 52, 1390-1400.
Pelucchi, B., Hay, J.F., Saffran, J.R. (2009). Learning in reverse: Eight-month-old infants track backwards transitional probabilities. Cognition, 113, 244-247.
Jonaitis, E.M., Saffran, J.R. (2009). Learning Harmony: The Role of Serial Statistics. Cognitive Science, 33, 951-968.
Thiessen, E.D., Saffran, J.R. (2009). How the Melody Facilitates the Message and Vice Versa in Infant Learning and Memory. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1169, 225-233.
Pelucchi, B., Hay, J.F., Saffran, J.R. (2009). Statistical learning in a natural language by 8 month-old infants. Child Development, 80(3), 674-685.
Evans, J.L., Saffran, J.R., Robe-Torres, K. (2009). Statistical learning in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 52, 321-335.
Saffran, J.R., Hauser, M., Seibel, R.L., Kapfhamer, J., Tsao, F., Cushman, F. (2008). Grammatical pattern learning by infants and cotton-top tamarin monkeys. Cognition, 107, 479-500.
Baldwin, D., Andersson, A., Saffran, J., Meyer, M. (2008). Segmenting dynamic human action via statistical structure. Cognition, 106(3), 1382-1407.
Saffran, J.R., Pollak, S.D., Seibel, R.L., Shkolnik, A. (2007). Dog is a dog is a dog: Infant rule learning is not specific to language. Cognition, 105, 669-680.
Thiessen E.D., & Saffran, J.R. (2007). Learning to learn: Infants’ acquisition of stress-based strategies for word segmentation. Language Learning & Development, 3, 73-100.
Graf Estes, K.M., Evans, J., Alibali, M.W., & Saffran, J.R. (2007). Can infants map meaning to newly segmented words? Statistical segmentation and word learning. Psychological Science, 18, 254-260.
Saffran, J.R., & Thiessen, E.D. (2007). Domain-general learning capacities. In E. Hoff & M. Shatz (Eds.), Handbook of Language Development. Cambridge: Blackwell (p. 68-86).
Saffran, J.R., Werker, J., & Werner, L. (2006). The infant’s auditory world: Hearing, speech, and the beginnings of language. In R. Siegler and D. Kuhn (Eds.), Handbook of Child Development. New York: Wiley (p.58-108).
Saffran, J.R., & Graf Estes, K.M. (2006). Mapping sound to meaning: Connections between learning about sounds and learning about words. In R. Kail (Ed.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior. New York: Elsevier (p. 1-38).
Kaschak, M.P., & Saffran, J.R. (2006). Idiomatic syntactic constructions and language learning. Cognitive Science, 30, 43-63.
2005 – 2001
Saffran, J. R., Reeck, K., Niehbur, A., & Wilson, D. P. (2005). Changing the tune: Absolute and relative pitch processing by adults and infants. Developmental Science, 8, 1-7.
Thiessen, E. D., Hill, E., & Saffran, J. R. (2005). Infant-directed speech facilitates word segmentation. Infancy, 7, 53-71.
Thiessen, E. D., & Saffran, J. R. (2004). Spectral tilt as a cue to word segmentation in infancy and adulthood. Perception & Psychophysics, 66, 779-791.
McMullen, E., & Saffran, J. R. (2004). Music and language: A developmental comparison. Music Perception, 21, 289-311.
Saffran, J. R. (2003). Musical learning and language development. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 999, 397-401.
Saffran, J. R. (2003). Statistical language learning: Mechanisms and constraints. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12,110-114.
Saffran, J. R. (2003). Absolute pitch in infancy and adulthood: The role of tonal structure. Developmental Science, 6, 37-45.
Saffran, J. R., & Thiessen, E. D. (2003). Pattern induction by infant language learners. Developmental Psychology, 39, 484-494.
Saffran, J. R., & Wilson, D. P. (2003). From syllables to syntax: Multi-level statistical learning by 12-month-old infants. Infancy, 4, 273-284.
Thiessen, E. D., & Saffran, J. R. (2003). When cues collide: Statistical and stress cues in infant word segmentation. Developmental Psychology, 39, 706-716.
Seidenberg, M. S., MacDonald, M. C., & Saffran, J. R. (2002). Does grammar start where statistics stop? Science, 298, 553-554.
Saffran, J. R. (2002). Constraints on statistical language learning. Journal of Memory and Language, 47, 172-196.
Saffran, J. R., Senghas, A., & Trueswell, J. C. (2001). The acquisition of language by children. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98, 12874-12875.
Saffran, J. R. (2001). Words in a sea of sounds: The output of statistical learning. Cognition, 81, 149-169.
Saffran, J. R. (2001). The use of predictive dependencies in language learning. Journal of Memory and Language, 44, 493-515.
Saffran, J. R., & Griepentrog, G. J. (2001). Absolute pitch in infant auditory learning: Evidence for developmental reorganization. Developmental Psychology, 37, 74-85.
2000 – 1995
Saffran, J. R., Loman, M. M., & Robertson, R. R. W. (2000). Infant memory for musical experiences. Cognition, 77, 15-23.
Saffran, J. R., Johnson, E. K., Aslin, R. N., & Newport, E. L. (1999). Statistical learning of tone sequences by human infants and adults. Cognition, 70, 27-52.
Aslin, R. N., Saffran, J. R., & Newport, E. L. (1999). Statistical learning in linguistic and non-linguistic domains. B. MacWhinney (Ed.), Emergentist approaches to language. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Aslin, R. N., Saffran, J. R., & Newport, E. L. (1998). Computation of conditional probability statistics by 8-month-old infants. Psychological Science, 9, 321-324.
Saffran, J. R., Newport, E. L., Aslin, R. N., Tunick, R. A., & Barrueco, S. (1997). Incidental Language Learning: Listening (And Learning) out of the Corner of Your Ear. Psychological Science, 8, 101-105.
Saffran, J. R., Aslin, R. N., & Newport, E. L. (1996). Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science, 274, 1926-1928.
Saffran, J. R., Newport, E. L., & Aslin, R. N. (1996). Word segmentation: The role of distributional cues. Journal of Memory and Language, 35, 606-621.
Morgan, J. L., & Saffran, J. R. (1995). Emerging integration of segmental and suprasegmental information in prelingual speech segmentation. Child Development, 66, 911-936.