Out of sight but not out of mind
Elena Luchkina is a research scientist in the Department of Psychology.Photo by Grace DuVal Science & Tech Out of sight but not out of mind By 15 months, children can learn names of objects they’ve never seen, study says Saima Sidik Harvard Correspondent June 16, 2025 6 min read Love, quantum mechanics, yesterday’s weather — humans readily discuss these and many other things they cannot see. Infants start to develop this ability early, new research suggests. Even 15-month-olds can define nouns without seeing their corresponding objects, according to work performed by Elena Luchkina, a research scientist in Elizabeth Spelke’s lab at the Harvard Department of Psychology, and Sandra Waxman, a professor of psychology and director of the Infant and Child Development Center at Northwestern University. In this edited conversation with the Gazette, Luchkina discusses how she infers what infants are thinking, why her work could help treat learning difficulties, and whether the ability to discuss the unseen sets...