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Gedeon Deák

University of California, San Diego, Cognitive Science, Faculty Member

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Gedeon Deak (BA cum laude, Vassar College, 1990; Ph.D. University of Minnesota, 1995) is a Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of California at San Diego. He directs the Cognitive Development Laboratory at UCSD. Previously he was on the faculty of Vanderbilt University.

Areas of research:
• Cognitive flexibility and cognitive control in children
• Development of social skills and communication in infants
• Cortical & autonomic processes in infant-parent social interaction
• Family and environment effects on language learning
• How children learn and use language, especially words
• Micro-behavioral dynamics of infant and parents social interactions
• Reinforcement learning and its development
• Theoretical/quantitative models of social attention development
• Tool-using behaviors in children; understanding 'function'
• Understanding of mental states by children and adults

Professor Deák and his colleagues use behavioral experiments, computational simulations, EEG, micro-behavioral analysis, naturalistic/ethnographic observation, physiological measures, and simulations with computers and robots to study these topics.

Professor Deák teaches undergraduate and graduate classes on cognitive and brain development, infancy, language learning, and developmental and cognitive factors in education.

Professor Deák has received research grants from the National Science Foundation, National Academy of Education, National Institutes of Health, M.I.N.D. Institute, and National Alliance for Autism Research.
He is on the executive council of the Center for Human Development at UCSD, is a co-investigator in the Temporal Dynamics Learning Center, and is an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development.
Address: Dept. of Cognitive Science
9500 Gilman Dr.
Univ. CA, San Diego
San Diego, CA 92093-0515

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Brooklyn College of CUNY

Ann Mastergeorge

Julie Gros-Louis

Laura Bozicevic

Steven Elmlinger

Cornell University

University of Utah

Lesley Bretherton

Tamar Keren-portnoy

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Papers by Gedeon Deák

Maternal discourse continuity and infants’ actions organize 12-month-olds’ language exposure during object play

Developmental Science

From the earliest ages, infant-directed speech (IDS) constitutes a rich discourse including inter... more From the earliest ages, infant-directed speech (IDS) constitutes a rich discourse including interconnected utterances of varied syntactic and semantic content. These utterances include but are not limited to object-naming, descriptive comments, attention-directing, imperatives, questions, and stereotyped routines such as greetings and games. Caregivers' varied utterance types have interactive functions including regulating infants' affective state

Contingencies Between Infants’ Gaze, Vocal, and Manual Actions and Mothers’ Object-Naming: Longitudinal Changes From 4 to 9 Months

Developmental Neuropsychology, 2016

Infants' early motor actions help organize social interactions, forming the context of caregiver ... more Infants' early motor actions help organize social interactions, forming the context of caregiver speech. We investigated changes across the first year in social contingencies between infant gaze and object exploration, and mothers' speech. We recorded mother-infant object play at 4, 6, and 9 months, identifying infants' and mothers' gaze and hand actions, and mothers' object naming and general utterances. Mothers named objects more when infants vocalized, looked at objects or the mother's face, or handled multiple objects. As infants aged, their increasing object exploration created opportunities for caregiver contingencies and changed how gaze and hands accompany object naming over time.

A Unified Account of Gaze Following

Gaze following, the ability to redirect one's visual attention to look at what another person is ... more Gaze following, the ability to redirect one's visual attention to look at what another person is seeing, is foundational for imitation, word learning, and theory-of-mind. Previous theories have suggested that the development of gaze following in human infants is the product of a basic gaze following mechanism, plus the gradual incorporation of several distinct new mechanisms that improve the skill, such as spatial inference, and the ability to use eye direction information as well as head direction. In this paper, we offer an alternative explanation based on a single learning mechanism. From a starting state with no knowledge of the implications of another organism's gaze direction, our model learns to follow gaze by being placed in a simulated environment where an adult caregiver looks around at objects. Our infant model matches the development of gaze following in human infants as measured in key experiments that we replicate and analyze in detail.

Encyclopedia of the Mind, 2013

Using eye direction cues for gaze following–a developmental model

C. Yu, LB Smith, & O. Sporns, Proceedings of the International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL 2006). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, 2006

Abstract—We present a reinforcement learning model of gaze following that learns to incorporate e... more Abstract—We present a reinforcement learning model of gaze following that learns to incorporate eye cues in a developmental trajectory similar to that found in infants: older infants follow gaze more frequently when both the caregiver's eyes and head are turned than when only her head is turned. Similarly, infants learn to follow gaze less when the caregiver's eyes are closed than when her eyes are open. The model works through the maximization of visual reward, and not by representing an estimate of the other person's ...

Coactivation of Cognitive Control Networks During Task Switching

Neuropsychology, 2017

Objective: The ability to flexibly switch between tasks is considered an important component of c... more Objective: The ability to flexibly switch between tasks is considered an important component of cognitive control that involves frontal and parietal cortical areas. The present study was designed to characterize network dynamics across multiple brain regions during task switching. Method: Functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI) were captured during a standard rule-switching task to identify switching-related brain regions. Multiregional psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis was used to examine effective connectivity between these regions. Results: During switching trials, behavioral performance declined and activation of a generic cognitive control network increased. Concurrently, task-related connectivity increased within and between cingulo-opercular and fronto-parietal cognitive control networks. Notably, the left inferior frontal junction (IFJ) was most consistently coactivated with the 2 cognitive control networks. Furthermore, switching-dependent effective connectivity was nega- tively correlated with behavioral switch costs. The strength of effective connectivity between left IFJ and other regions in the networks predicted individual differences in switch costs. Conclusions: Task switching was supported by coactivated connections within cognitive control networks, with left IFJ potentially acting as a key hub between the fronto-parietal and cingulo-opercular networks.

Nine-month-olds’ shared visual attention as a function of gesture and object location

by Ross Flom and Gedeon Deák

Infant Behavior and Development, 2004

Two factors hypothesized to affect shared visual attention in 9-month-olds were investigated in t... more Two factors hypothesized to affect shared visual attention in 9-month-olds were investigated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, we examined the effects of different attention-directing actions (looking, looking and pointing, and looking, pointing and verbalizing) on 9-month-olds' engagement in shared visual attention. In Experiment 1 we also varied target object locations (i.e., in front, behind, or peripheral to the infant) to test whether 9-month-olds can follow an adult's gesture past a nearby object to a more distal target. Infants followed more elaborate parental gestures to targets within their visual field. They also ignored nearby objects to follow adults' attention to a peripheral target, but not to targets behind them. In Experiment 2, we rotated the parent 90 • from the infant's midline to equate the size of the parents' head turns to targets within as well as outside the infants' visual field. This manipulation significantly increased infants' looking to target objects behind them, however, the frequency of such looks did not exceed chance. The results of these two experiments are consistent with perceptual and social experience accounts of shared visual attention.

Effects of gesture and target on 12- and 18-month-olds' joint visual attention to objects in front of or behind them

by Ross Flom and Gedeon Deák

Developmental Psychology, 2000

What Leads To Shared Attention? Maternal Cues and Infant Responses During Object Play WHAT ACTIONS PRECEDE SHARED ATTENTION? MATERNAL CUES AND INFANT RESPONSES DURING OBJECT PLAY

Attention sharing provides an important context for infant learning, but it is not fully understo... more Attention sharing provides an important context for infant learning, but it is not fully understood how infants respond to parents' isolated or combined actions to shift from nonsharing to attention-sharing states. To investigate this, we recorded unscripted toy-play interactions of infants (3 to 11 months old, N = 35) and mothers at home, and coded attention-related behaviors. These included infants' and mothers' visual fixations, and mothers' attention-directing actions including gaze shifts, pointing gestures, object manipulations, verbalizations, and object sounds. In addition, dyadic attention was continuously classified into one of seven states of shared or nonshared attention. Results showed that mothers usually produced a combination of attention-directing cues within the 7 sec. before infants shifted their attention to match the mother's focus. Mothers' cue combinations usually included object manipulation and either a gaze shift or a verbalization. Infants seldom looked at mothers' faces and followed a very small proportion of isolated gaze shifts or pointing gestures. However, infants frequently shifted attention to watch mothers manipulate objects. The results indicate that during toy play, combinations of maternal attention-specifying actions selectively elicit infants' attention following.

What Leads To Shared Attention? Maternal Cues and Infant Responses During Object Play WHAT ACTIONS PRECEDE SHARED ATTENTION? MATERNAL CUES AND INFANT RESPONSES DURING OBJECT PLAY

by Gedeon Deák and Hector Jasso

Attention sharing provides an important context for infant learning, but it is not fully understo... more Attention sharing provides an important context for infant learning, but it is not fully understood how infants respond to parents' isolated or combined actions to shift from nonsharing to attention-sharing states. To investigate this, we recorded unscripted toy-play interactions of infants (3 to 11 months old, N = 35) and mothers at home, and coded attention-related behaviors. These included infants' and mothers' visual fixations, and mothers' attention-directing actions including gaze shifts, pointing gestures, object manipulations, verbalizations, and object sounds. In addition, dyadic attention was continuously classified into one of seven states of shared or nonshared attention. Results showed that mothers usually produced a combination of attention-directing cues within the 7 sec. before infants shifted their attention to match the mother's focus. Mothers' cue combinations usually included object manipulation and either a gaze shift or a verbalization. Infants seldom looked at mothers' faces and followed a very small proportion of isolated gaze shifts or pointing gestures. However, infants frequently shifted attention to watch mothers manipulate objects. The results indicate that during toy play, combinations of maternal attention-specifying actions selectively elicit infants' attention following.

Temporal dynamics of multimodal multiparty interactions

by Kaya Barbaro and Gedeon Deák

Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research - MB '10, 2010

This project characterizes the development of early social interactions in a longitudinal sample ... more This project characterizes the development of early social interactions in a longitudinal sample of mothers and their infants. To do this we track the interaction in as a temporal configuration of multimodal, multiparty components, coding a total of 14 dimensions at each frame. Our final goal is to develop methods which we can use to systematically document regularities in the way attention gets organized longitudinally in a large sample of motherinfant dyads. Coding systematically at this scale allows us to ground a developmental account of early social interaction. For this project, we developed 1) ways to reduce the labor intensity of coding frame-by-frame multidimensional data over the entire sample and 2) ways of quantifying complex configural regularities across our sample.

Investigating the emergence of shared attention through an embodied computational modeling approach: a progress report

Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, 2003., 2003

Sensory-motor dynamics of mother-infant-object interactions: Longitudinal changes in micro-behavioral patterns across the first year

2012 IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL), 2012

Abstract Infants rapidly develop the skills to coordinate attention to objects and people. In par... more Abstract Infants rapidly develop the skills to coordinate attention to objects and people. In particular, the period 9–12 months is thought to bring a new ability to coordinate with and to share the objects of another persons&amp;#x27; attention—like following the gaze of the mother or playing a ball tossing game together. This has been termed “triadic” or “you-me-it” attention and is thought to be the basis for future learning, including early language (Bruner, 1975; Tomasello &amp;amp; Farrar, 1986).

Attention-Sharing in Human Infants from 5 to 10 Months of Age in Naturalistic Interactions

EEG Imaging of Toddlers During “Live” Dyadic Turn-Taking: Mu-Rhythm Modulation And Source-Clusters In Natural Action Observation and Execution

. Left: The event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) of three epochs time locked to different t... more

Weaving a lexicon

Methodological Considerations For Investigating the Microdynamics of Social Interaction Development

Adult-like changes in mu rhythm activity in young children accompany action observation and execution in a social context

Chapter 16: Origins of shared attention in human infants

Homo sapiens possess a unique behavioural system for social action and response, namely, language... more Homo sapiens possess a unique behavioural system for social action and response, namely, language. Language permits action at a distance by transmitting messages with specifi c meanings from one individual's mind to that of another. It is a peculiar system as compared with other structures in the environment, because the information in language that specifi es meaning is rather abstract and arbitrary. Despite—or perhaps due to—these characteristics, language is the prime medium for 'cultural ratcheting' (Tomasello, 1999) among humans. In cultural ratcheting, behavioural innovations (e.g. tools) spread through a group and are sustained and elaborated upon across generations. For a group to maintain a system of linguistic behaviours, each individual must be able to learn and adapt to the prevailing information structure. Typically, most of the structure of language is learned within a few years of birth, when the human infants are dependent on and in near-constant conta...

Visual Prediction in Infancy: What is the Association with Later Vocabulary?

Language Learning and Development, 2014

Young infants can learn statistical regularities and patterns in sequences of events. Studies hav... more Young infants can learn statistical regularities and patterns in sequences of events. Studies have demonstrated a relationship between early sequence learning skills and later development of cognitive and language skills. We investigated the relation between infants' visual response speed to novel event sequences, and their later receptive and productive vocabulary. Using a modified visual expectancy paradigm (VExP; Haith, Wentworth, & Canfield, 1993), we tested 6-month-old infants' speed at responding to novel but predictable contingent event sequences. In addition, parental reports and behavioral measures of infants' vocabulary were obtained at 12, 16, and 22 months. In order to estimate the separate effects of linguistic input on vocabulary, maternal speech from a play session at 12 months was analyzed for lexical diversity and quantity. Results suggest that infants' speed of responding to novel but predictable events at 6 months robustly predicted both receptive and productive vocabulary at 22 months. This relation cannot be attributed to general cognitive maturity, as measured by a standardized test (Bayley Scales of Infant Development;. Maternal input predicted additional unique variance in infant processing speed. The results suggest that infants' capacity to quickly learn and respond to sequential patterns, over and above the quality of the speech input they receive, contributes to vocabulary size in the second year.

Maternal discourse continuity and infants’ actions organize 12-month-olds’ language exposure during object play

Developmental Science

From the earliest ages, infant-directed speech (IDS) constitutes a rich discourse including inter... more From the earliest ages, infant-directed speech (IDS) constitutes a rich discourse including interconnected utterances of varied syntactic and semantic content. These utterances include but are not limited to object-naming, descriptive comments, attention-directing, imperatives, questions, and stereotyped routines such as greetings and games. Caregivers' varied utterance types have interactive functions including regulating infants' affective state

Contingencies Between Infants’ Gaze, Vocal, and Manual Actions and Mothers’ Object-Naming: Longitudinal Changes From 4 to 9 Months

Developmental Neuropsychology, 2016

Infants' early motor actions help organize social interactions, forming the context of caregiver ... more Infants' early motor actions help organize social interactions, forming the context of caregiver speech. We investigated changes across the first year in social contingencies between infant gaze and object exploration, and mothers' speech. We recorded mother-infant object play at 4, 6, and 9 months, identifying infants' and mothers' gaze and hand actions, and mothers' object naming and general utterances. Mothers named objects more when infants vocalized, looked at objects or the mother's face, or handled multiple objects. As infants aged, their increasing object exploration created opportunities for caregiver contingencies and changed how gaze and hands accompany object naming over time.

A Unified Account of Gaze Following

Gaze following, the ability to redirect one's visual attention to look at what another person is ... more Gaze following, the ability to redirect one's visual attention to look at what another person is seeing, is foundational for imitation, word learning, and theory-of-mind. Previous theories have suggested that the development of gaze following in human infants is the product of a basic gaze following mechanism, plus the gradual incorporation of several distinct new mechanisms that improve the skill, such as spatial inference, and the ability to use eye direction information as well as head direction. In this paper, we offer an alternative explanation based on a single learning mechanism. From a starting state with no knowledge of the implications of another organism's gaze direction, our model learns to follow gaze by being placed in a simulated environment where an adult caregiver looks around at objects. Our infant model matches the development of gaze following in human infants as measured in key experiments that we replicate and analyze in detail.

Encyclopedia of the Mind, 2013

Using eye direction cues for gaze following–a developmental model

C. Yu, LB Smith, & O. Sporns, Proceedings of the International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL 2006). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, 2006

Abstract—We present a reinforcement learning model of gaze following that learns to incorporate e... more Abstract—We present a reinforcement learning model of gaze following that learns to incorporate eye cues in a developmental trajectory similar to that found in infants: older infants follow gaze more frequently when both the caregiver's eyes and head are turned than when only her head is turned. Similarly, infants learn to follow gaze less when the caregiver's eyes are closed than when her eyes are open. The model works through the maximization of visual reward, and not by representing an estimate of the other person's ...

Coactivation of Cognitive Control Networks During Task Switching

Neuropsychology, 2017

Objective: The ability to flexibly switch between tasks is considered an important component of c... more Objective: The ability to flexibly switch between tasks is considered an important component of cognitive control that involves frontal and parietal cortical areas. The present study was designed to characterize network dynamics across multiple brain regions during task switching. Method: Functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI) were captured during a standard rule-switching task to identify switching-related brain regions. Multiregional psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis was used to examine effective connectivity between these regions. Results: During switching trials, behavioral performance declined and activation of a generic cognitive control network increased. Concurrently, task-related connectivity increased within and between cingulo-opercular and fronto-parietal cognitive control networks. Notably, the left inferior frontal junction (IFJ) was most consistently coactivated with the 2 cognitive control networks. Furthermore, switching-dependent effective connectivity was nega- tively correlated with behavioral switch costs. The strength of effective connectivity between left IFJ and other regions in the networks predicted individual differences in switch costs. Conclusions: Task switching was supported by coactivated connections within cognitive control networks, with left IFJ potentially acting as a key hub between the fronto-parietal and cingulo-opercular networks.

Nine-month-olds’ shared visual attention as a function of gesture and object location

by Ross Flom and Gedeon Deák

Infant Behavior and Development, 2004

Two factors hypothesized to affect shared visual attention in 9-month-olds were investigated in t... more Two factors hypothesized to affect shared visual attention in 9-month-olds were investigated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, we examined the effects of different attention-directing actions (looking, looking and pointing, and looking, pointing and verbalizing) on 9-month-olds' engagement in shared visual attention. In Experiment 1 we also varied target object locations (i.e., in front, behind, or peripheral to the infant) to test whether 9-month-olds can follow an adult's gesture past a nearby object to a more distal target. Infants followed more elaborate parental gestures to targets within their visual field. They also ignored nearby objects to follow adults' attention to a peripheral target, but not to targets behind them. In Experiment 2, we rotated the parent 90 • from the infant's midline to equate the size of the parents' head turns to targets within as well as outside the infants' visual field. This manipulation significantly increased infants' looking to target objects behind them, however, the frequency of such looks did not exceed chance. The results of these two experiments are consistent with perceptual and social experience accounts of shared visual attention.

Effects of gesture and target on 12- and 18-month-olds' joint visual attention to objects in front of or behind them

by Ross Flom and Gedeon Deák

Developmental Psychology, 2000

What Leads To Shared Attention? Maternal Cues and Infant Responses During Object Play WHAT ACTIONS PRECEDE SHARED ATTENTION? MATERNAL CUES AND INFANT RESPONSES DURING OBJECT PLAY

Attention sharing provides an important context for infant learning, but it is not fully understo... more Attention sharing provides an important context for infant learning, but it is not fully understood how infants respond to parents' isolated or combined actions to shift from nonsharing to attention-sharing states. To investigate this, we recorded unscripted toy-play interactions of infants (3 to 11 months old, N = 35) and mothers at home, and coded attention-related behaviors. These included infants' and mothers' visual fixations, and mothers' attention-directing actions including gaze shifts, pointing gestures, object manipulations, verbalizations, and object sounds. In addition, dyadic attention was continuously classified into one of seven states of shared or nonshared attention. Results showed that mothers usually produced a combination of attention-directing cues within the 7 sec. before infants shifted their attention to match the mother's focus. Mothers' cue combinations usually included object manipulation and either a gaze shift or a verbalization. Infants seldom looked at mothers' faces and followed a very small proportion of isolated gaze shifts or pointing gestures. However, infants frequently shifted attention to watch mothers manipulate objects. The results indicate that during toy play, combinations of maternal attention-specifying actions selectively elicit infants' attention following.

What Leads To Shared Attention? Maternal Cues and Infant Responses During Object Play WHAT ACTIONS PRECEDE SHARED ATTENTION? MATERNAL CUES AND INFANT RESPONSES DURING OBJECT PLAY

by Gedeon Deák and Hector Jasso

Attention sharing provides an important context for infant learning, but it is not fully understo... more Attention sharing provides an important context for infant learning, but it is not fully understood how infants respond to parents' isolated or combined actions to shift from nonsharing to attention-sharing states. To investigate this, we recorded unscripted toy-play interactions of infants (3 to 11 months old, N = 35) and mothers at home, and coded attention-related behaviors. These included infants' and mothers' visual fixations, and mothers' attention-directing actions including gaze shifts, pointing gestures, object manipulations, verbalizations, and object sounds. In addition, dyadic attention was continuously classified into one of seven states of shared or nonshared attention. Results showed that mothers usually produced a combination of attention-directing cues within the 7 sec. before infants shifted their attention to match the mother's focus. Mothers' cue combinations usually included object manipulation and either a gaze shift or a verbalization. Infants seldom looked at mothers' faces and followed a very small proportion of isolated gaze shifts or pointing gestures. However, infants frequently shifted attention to watch mothers manipulate objects. The results indicate that during toy play, combinations of maternal attention-specifying actions selectively elicit infants' attention following.

Temporal dynamics of multimodal multiparty interactions

by Kaya Barbaro and Gedeon Deák

Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research - MB '10, 2010

This project characterizes the development of early social interactions in a longitudinal sample ... more This project characterizes the development of early social interactions in a longitudinal sample of mothers and their infants. To do this we track the interaction in as a temporal configuration of multimodal, multiparty components, coding a total of 14 dimensions at each frame. Our final goal is to develop methods which we can use to systematically document regularities in the way attention gets organized longitudinally in a large sample of motherinfant dyads. Coding systematically at this scale allows us to ground a developmental account of early social interaction. For this project, we developed 1) ways to reduce the labor intensity of coding frame-by-frame multidimensional data over the entire sample and 2) ways of quantifying complex configural regularities across our sample.

Investigating the emergence of shared attention through an embodied computational modeling approach: a progress report

Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, 2003., 2003

Sensory-motor dynamics of mother-infant-object interactions: Longitudinal changes in micro-behavioral patterns across the first year

2012 IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL), 2012

Abstract Infants rapidly develop the skills to coordinate attention to objects and people. In par... more Abstract Infants rapidly develop the skills to coordinate attention to objects and people. In particular, the period 9–12 months is thought to bring a new ability to coordinate with and to share the objects of another persons&amp;#x27; attention—like following the gaze of the mother or playing a ball tossing game together. This has been termed “triadic” or “you-me-it” attention and is thought to be the basis for future learning, including early language (Bruner, 1975; Tomasello &amp;amp; Farrar, 1986).

Attention-Sharing in Human Infants from 5 to 10 Months of Age in Naturalistic Interactions

EEG Imaging of Toddlers During “Live” Dyadic Turn-Taking: Mu-Rhythm Modulation And Source-Clusters In Natural Action Observation and Execution

. Left: The event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) of three epochs time locked to different t... more

Weaving a lexicon

Methodological Considerations For Investigating the Microdynamics of Social Interaction Development

Adult-like changes in mu rhythm activity in young children accompany action observation and execution in a social context

Chapter 16: Origins of shared attention in human infants

Homo sapiens possess a unique behavioural system for social action and response, namely, language... more Homo sapiens possess a unique behavioural system for social action and response, namely, language. Language permits action at a distance by transmitting messages with specifi c meanings from one individual's mind to that of another. It is a peculiar system as compared with other structures in the environment, because the information in language that specifi es meaning is rather abstract and arbitrary. Despite—or perhaps due to—these characteristics, language is the prime medium for 'cultural ratcheting' (Tomasello, 1999) among humans. In cultural ratcheting, behavioural innovations (e.g. tools) spread through a group and are sustained and elaborated upon across generations. For a group to maintain a system of linguistic behaviours, each individual must be able to learn and adapt to the prevailing information structure. Typically, most of the structure of language is learned within a few years of birth, when the human infants are dependent on and in near-constant conta...

Visual Prediction in Infancy: What is the Association with Later Vocabulary?

Language Learning and Development, 2014

Young infants can learn statistical regularities and patterns in sequences of events. Studies hav... more Young infants can learn statistical regularities and patterns in sequences of events. Studies have demonstrated a relationship between early sequence learning skills and later development of cognitive and language skills. We investigated the relation between infants' visual response speed to novel event sequences, and their later receptive and productive vocabulary. Using a modified visual expectancy paradigm (VExP; Haith, Wentworth, & Canfield, 1993), we tested 6-month-old infants' speed at responding to novel but predictable contingent event sequences. In addition, parental reports and behavioral measures of infants' vocabulary were obtained at 12, 16, and 22 months. In order to estimate the separate effects of linguistic input on vocabulary, maternal speech from a play session at 12 months was analyzed for lexical diversity and quantity. Results suggest that infants' speed of responding to novel but predictable events at 6 months robustly predicted both receptive and productive vocabulary at 22 months. This relation cannot be attributed to general cognitive maturity, as measured by a standardized test (Bayley Scales of Infant Development;. Maternal input predicted additional unique variance in infant processing speed. The results suggest that infants' capacity to quickly learn and respond to sequential patterns, over and above the quality of the speech input they receive, contributes to vocabulary size in the second year.