In conclusion, the current results provide the first empirical evidence that school-aged children can
learn word-to-referent mappings across multiple ambiguous naming events. These results suggest
statistical word learning as a candidate learning mechanism for later phases of vocabulary acquisition
as well as earlier ones. The current endeavor not only demonstrates that children can learn words
cross-situationally but also provides important evidence regarding developmental consistency in
the learning mechanism by demonstrating that some of the same factors previously shown to influence
adults’ learning also influence children’s learning.