Question: How does attention impact learning new words for infants who are around 18 months old? Need Assignment Help? Multiple Choice Question Infants absorb many new words at this age and can learn even if they are not paying close attention to the new object. Infants will learn a new word after hearing is a few times regardless of whether they are paying attention to the object. Paying visual attention to an object makes it less likely that an infant will learn the word because infants cannot process visual and auditory information at the same time. Shared attention with a caregiver makes it more likely the infant will remember the word for a new object.