biostudies-literatureSavic ONICHD NIH HHSFoundation for the National Institutes of Health142-158https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9780163biostudies-literatureUnknown94(1)With development knowledge becomes organized according to semantic links, including early-developing associative (e.g., juicy-apple) and gradually developing taxonomic links (e.g., apple-pear). Word co-occurrence regularities may foster these links: Associative links may form from direct co-occurrence (e.g., juicy-apple), and taxonomic links from shared co-occurrence (e.g., apple and pear co-occur with juicy). Four experiments (2017-2020) investigated this possibility with 4- to 8-year-olds (N = 148, 82 female) and adults (N = 116, 35 female) in a U.S. city with 58.6% White; 29.0% Black, and 5.8% Asian demographics. Results revealed earlier development of the abilities to form direct (ds > 0.536) than the abilities to form shared co-occurrence-based links (ds > 1.291). We argue that the asynchronous development of abilities to form co-occurrence-based links may explain developmental changes in semantic organization.Child developmentExperience and maturation: The contribution of co-occurrence regularities in language to the development of semantic organization.PMC9780163R01HD078545R01 HD078545P01 HD080679P01HD080679Unger LSloutsky VMSavic OfalseExperience and maturation: The contribution of co-occurrence regularities in language to the development of semantic organization.With development knowledge becomes organized according to semantic links, including early-developing associative (e.g., juicy-apple) and gradually developing taxonomic links (e.g., apple-pear). Word co-occurrence regularities may foster these links: Associative links may form from direct co-occurrence (e.g., juicy-apple), and taxonomic links from shared co-occurrence (e.g., apple and pear co-occur with juicy). Four experiments (2017-2020) investigated this possibility with 4- to 8-year-olds (N = 148, 82 female) and adults (N = 116, 35 female) in a U.S. city with 58.6% White; 29.0% Black, and 5.8% Asian demographics. Results revealed earlier development of the abilities to form direct (ds > 0.536) than the abilities to form shared co-occurrence-based links (ds > 1.291). We argue that the asynchronous development of abilities to form co-occurrence-based links may explain developmental changes in semantic organization.2023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023 Jan2025-04-26T17:45:52.621Z2025-02-18T23:25:56.772ZS-EPMC97801633596258610.1111/cdev.13844