{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,4]],"date-time":"2026-03-04T17:08:49Z","timestamp":1772644129424,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,11]],"date-time":"2021-03-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1615420800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R01HD083310"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01HD083310"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Recent evidence reveals a precocious link between language and cognition in human infants: listening to their native language supports infants\u2019 core cognitive processes, including object categorization, and does so in a way that other acoustic signals (e.g., time-reversed speech; sine-wave tone sequences) do not. Moreover, language is not the only signal that confers this cognitive advantage: listening to vocalizations of non-human primates also supports object categorization in 3- and 4-month-olds. Here, we move beyond primate vocalizations to clarify the breadth of acoustic signals that promote infant cognition. We ask whether listening to birdsong, another naturally produced animal vocalization, also supports object categorization in 3- and 4-month-old infants. We report that listening to zebra finch song failed to confer a cognitive advantage. This outcome brings us closer to identifying a boundary condition on the range of non-linguistic acoustic signals that initially support infant cognition.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0247430","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,11]],"date-time":"2021-03-11T18:27:28Z","timestamp":1615487248000},"page":"e0247430","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Birdsong fails to support object categorization in human infants"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3142-0476","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Kali","family":"Woodruff Carr","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Danielle R.","family":"Perszyk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5009-2068","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sandra R.","family":"Waxman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0247430.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"231","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-psych-122216-011701","article-title":"Linking Language and Cognition in Infancy","volume":"69","author":"DR Perszyk","year":"2018","journal-title":"Annu Rev Psychol"},{"key":"pone.0247430.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"527","DOI":"10.1017\/S0305000916000568","article-title":"Linking language & categorization in infancy","volume":"44","author":"B Ferguson","year":"2017","journal-title":"J Child Lang"},{"key":"pone.0247430.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/15475441.2012.631852","article-title":"Cognitive Development in Language Acquisition","volume":"8","author":"D Swingley","year":"2012","journal-title":"Lang Learn Dev"},{"key":"pone.0247430.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/4117.001.0001","volume-title":"Language in mind: advances in the study of language and thought","author":"D Gentner","year":"2003"},{"key":"pone.0247430.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25434","DOI":"10.1038\/srep25434","article-title":"Communicative signals support abstract rule learning by 7-month-old infants","volume":"6","author":"B Ferguson","year":"2016","journal-title":"Sci Rep"},{"key":"pone.0247430.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"472","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8624.2009.01408.x","article-title":"Categorization in 3- and 4-month-old infants: An advantage of words over tones","volume":"81","author":"AL Ferry","year":"2010","journal-title":"Child Dev"},{"key":"pone.0247430.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4159\/harvard.9780674866270","volume-title":"Categories and concepts","author":"EE Smith","year":"1981"},{"key":"pone.0247430.ref008","volume-title":"The big book of concepts","author":"GL Murphy","year":"2004"},{"key":"pone.0247430.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1469","DOI":"10.1037\/0003-066X.44.12.1469","article-title":"Concepts and Conceptual Structure","volume":"44","author":"DL Medin","year":"1989","journal-title":"Am Psychol"},{"key":"pone.0247430.ref010","first-page":"404","volume-title":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 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