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Experiencing diverse communities by hearing different languages at the park, on a bus or in the grocery store may make babies more open-minded in their social learning, a new study finds. While previous research has shown that direct interactions with parents and caregivers shape early cognitive development, the influence of the broader community beyond those direct experiences has not been as carefully examined. In a new study published by the journal Cognition , U Chicago psychology researchers investigated whether the variety of languages in infants' neighborhoods affects their willingness to learn from people who are different from them. "We were interested in linguistic diversity—that is, how many different languages babies might hear," said lead author Lauren H. Howard , a psychology doctoral student. "All of the babies in our study heard only English from their parents and caretakers. But they lived in neighborhoods where multiple languages were spoken. Our findings showed that hearing those languages outside the home, for example at the park or on the bus, made infants more open to learning from someone who did not speak English," Howard added.