Can read words in LR but not flashcards?

My daughter just turned 16 months and we have been doing LR since she was 8 months although it has been very sporadic so we are only on lesson 59 now. She also did YBCR when she was younger. When we play the game at the end of LR she can point to the correct word almost every time, the only times she gets it wrong is when it was a new word introduced that day. But when I show her the same words on flashcards or in a book she doesn’t react at all. I’ve tried to emulate the game by using two cards and asking, for example, which one says “cat” but she just looks at me blankly. Anybody any ideas why?

Is it possible that she is still remembering the words photographically, so is not yet able to recognise words when the letter shape/size/spacing is different?
Or maybe she doesn’t understand yet what you are asking of her when you show her flashcards because she is not as familiar with the format?