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Biography
I obtained a BSc in Physics from Imperial College before switching to Experimental Psychology at Sussex University where I obtained a D.Phil. in 1979. After brief sojourns at Nottingham University and the Open University, I moved to the Institute of Psychology, Aarhus University, Denmark and studied children's acquisition of Scandinavian languages. From 1986, I spent a great deal of time at the University of California, San Diego studying the application of neural networks to modelling linguistic and cognitive development in young children. Since 1991, I have been a member of the faculty in the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford and a Fellow of St. Hugh's College, Oxford. In 1992, I established the Oxford BabyLab which is a research facility for the experimental investigation of linguistic and cognitive development in babies and young children. I maintain an active interest in Scandinavian languages and neural network modelling.
Kim Plunkett
BSc MA MSc DPhil FAcSS
Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Science
Linguistic & Cognitive Development
Research Summary
My main interest is in understanding the mechanisms of change that drive linguistic and cognitive development in infants and young children. The primary focus of my work is on word recognition, word learning, semantic development and category formation during the first two years of life. I also have a long standing interest in morphological processes in children and adults.
Researchers in my lab employ experimental techniques (preferential looking, eye-tracking and habituation), computational modelling (artificial neural networks) and imaging (ERPs) methods as tools of investigation.
Current Research Grants
- Infant Bilingualism
ESRC (2019-2022) - Language Mediated Attention in Infancy
Leverhulme Trust (2018-2021) - Language in Infant Category Learning
NSF (2013-17)
Recent Research Grants
- Vowels and Consonants in the Brain
Wellcome Trust (2008-12) - Infant Predictors of Learning to Read
Nuffield Foundation (2012-15) - Lexical Development in Bilingual Toddlers
ESRC (2013-2016)
Key publications
In the infant's mind's ear: evidence for implicit naming in 18-month-olds.
Journal article
Mani N. and Plunkett K., (2010), Psychol Sci, 21, 908 - 913
A neurocomputational account of taxonomic responding and fast mapping in early word learning.
Journal article
Mayor J. and Plunkett K., (2010), Psychol Rev, 117, 1 - 31
Lexical-semantic priming effects during infancy.
Journal article
Arias-Trejo N. and Plunkett K., (2009), Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 364, 3633 - 3647
Labels can override perceptual categories in early infancy.
Journal article
Plunkett K. et al, (2008), Cognition, 106, 665 - 681
Stochastic approaches to understanding dissociations in inflectional morphology.
Journal article
Plunkett K. and Bandelow S., (2006), Brain Lang, 98, 194 - 209
Recent publications
Bilingual Toddlers' Vocabulary Growth Interacts with Existing Knowledge and Cross-Linguistic Similarity.
Journal article
Siow S. et al, (2025), J Child Lang, 1 - 28
Object play and problem solving in infancy: Insights into tool use.
Journal article
Rat-Fischer L. et al, (2024), J Exp Child Psychol, 244
Prime saliency in semantic priming with 18-month-olds.
Journal article
Gillen N. et al, (2024), Cognition, 246
Colour perception changes with basic colour word comprehension.
Journal article
Forbes SH. and Plunkett K., (2023), Dev Sci, 26
Double it up: Vocabulary size comparisons between UK bilingual and monolingual toddlers.
Journal article
Siow S. et al, (2023), Infancy, 28, 1030 - 1051