1
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Gossé LK, Pinti P, Wiesemann F, Elwell CE, Jones EJH. Developing customized NIRS-EEG for infant sleep research: methodological considerations. NEUROPHOTONICS 2023; 10:035010. [PMID: 37753324 PMCID: PMC10519625 DOI: 10.1117/1.nph.10.3.035010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2022] [Revised: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023]
Abstract
Significance Studies using simultaneous functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-electroencephalography (EEG) during natural sleep in infancy are rare. Developments for combined fNIRS-EEG for sleep research that ensure optimal comfort as well as good coupling and data quality are needed. Aim We describe the steps toward developing a comfortable, wearable NIRS-EEG headgear adapted specifically for sleeping infants ages 5 to 9 months and present the experimental procedures and data quality to conduct infant sleep research using combined fNIRS-EEG. Approach N = 49 5- to 9-month-old infants participated. In phase 1, N = 26 (10 = slept) participated using the non-wearable version of the NIRS-EEG headgear with 13-channel-wearable EEG and 39-channel fiber-based NIRS. In phase 2, N = 23 infants (21 = slept) participated with the wireless version of the headgear with 20-channel-wearable EEG and 47-channel wearable NIRS. We used QT-NIRS to assess the NIRS data quality based on the good time window percentage, included channels, nap duration, and valid EEG percentage. Results The infant nap rate during phase 1 was ∼ 40 % (45% valid EEG data) and increased to 90% during phase 2 (100% valid EEG data). Infants slept significantly longer with the wearable system than the non-wearable system. However, there were more included good channels based on QT-NIRS in study phase 1 (61%) than phase 2 (50%), though this difference was not statistically significant. Conclusions We demonstrated the usability of an integrated NIRS-EEG headgear during natural infant sleep with both non-wearable and wearable NIRS systems. The wearable NIRS-EEG headgear represents a good compromise between data quality, opportunities of applications (home visits and toddlers), and experiment success (infants' comfort, longer sleep duration, and opportunities for caregiver-child interaction).
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Affiliation(s)
- Louisa K. Gossé
- Birkbeck, University of London, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, London, United Kingdom
| | - Paola Pinti
- Birkbeck, University of London, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, London, United Kingdom
| | - Frank Wiesemann
- Research and Development, Procter & Gamble, Schwalbach am Taunus, Germany
| | - Clare E. Elwell
- University College London, Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Biomedical Optics Research Laboratory, London, United Kingdom
| | - Emily J. H. Jones
- Birkbeck, University of London, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, London, United Kingdom
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2
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Bobrowicz K, Thibaut JP. The Development of Flexible Problem Solving: An Integrative Approach. J Intell 2023; 11:119. [PMID: 37367522 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence11060119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 06/03/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Flexible problem solving, the ability to deal with currently goal-irrelevant information that may have been goal-relevant in previous, similar situations, plays a prominent role in cognitive development and has been repeatedly investigated in developmental research. However, this research, spanning from infancy to the school years, lacks a unifying framework, obscuring the developmental timing of flexible problem solving. Therefore, in this review paper, previous findings are gathered, organized, and integrated under a common framework to unveil how and when flexible problem solving develops. It is showed that the development of flexible problem solving coincides with increases in executive functions, that is, inhibition, working memory and task switching. The analysis of previous findings shows that dealing with goal-irrelevant, non-salient information received far more attention than generalizing in the presence of goal-irrelevant, salient information. The developmental timing of the latter can only be inferred from few transfer studies, as well as executive functions, planning and theory of mind research, to highlight gaps in knowledge and sketch out future research directions. Understanding how transfer in the presence of seemingly relevant but truly irrelevant information develops has implications for well-balanced participation in information societies, early and lifespan education, and investigating the evolutionary trajectory of flexible problem solving.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarzyna Bobrowicz
- Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Luxembourg, 4366 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
| | - Jean-Pierre Thibaut
- LEAD-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR-5022, University of Burgundy, 21000 Dijon, France
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3
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Singh L, Göksun T, Hirsh-Pasek K, Golinkoff RM. Sensitivity to visual cues within motion events in monolingual and bilingual infants. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 227:105582. [PMID: 36375314 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Revised: 10/18/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
It is well known that infants undergo developmental change in how they respond to language-relevant visual contrasts. For example, when viewing motion events, infants' sensitivities to background information ("ground-path cues," e.g., whether a background is flat and continuous or bounded) change with age. Prior studies with English and Japanese monolingual infants have demonstrated that 14-month-old infants discriminate between motion events that take place against different ground-paths (e.g., an unbounded field vs a bounded street). By 19 months of age, this sensitivity becomes more selective in monolingual infants; only learners of languages that lexically contrast these categories, such as Japanese, discriminate between such events. In this study, we investigated this progression in bilingual infants. We first replicated past reports of an age-related decline in ground-path sensitivity from 14 to 19 months in English monolingual infants living in a multilingual society. English-Mandarin bilingual infants living in that same society were then tested on discrimination of ground-path cues at 14, 19, and 24 months. Although neither the English nor Mandarin language differentiates motion events based on ground-path cues, bilingual infants demonstrated protracted sensitivity to these cues. Infants exhibited a lack of discrimination at 14 months, followed by discrimination at 19 months and a subsequent decline in discrimination at 24 months. In addition, bilingual infants demonstrated more fine-grained sensitivities to subtle ground cues not observed in monolingual infants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leher Singh
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
| | - Tilbe Göksun
- Department of Psychology, Koç University, 34450 Sarıyer/Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
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4
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Rusnak SN, Rocha-Hidalgo J, Blanchfield OA, Odier M, Sawaf T, Barr R. The development of the object sequencing imitation task to measure working memory in preschoolers. J Exp Child Psychol 2022; 218:105372. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2020] [Revised: 12/23/2021] [Accepted: 01/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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5
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Sun L, Griep CD, Yoshida H. Shared Multimodal Input Through Social Coordination: Infants With Monolingual and Bilingual Learning Experiences. Front Psychol 2022; 13:745904. [PMID: 35519632 PMCID: PMC9066094 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.745904] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
A growing number of children in the United States are exposed to multiple languages at home from birth. However, relatively little is known about the early process of word learning—how words are mapped to the referent in their child-centered learning experiences. The present study defined parental input operationally as the integrated and multimodal learning experiences as an infant engages with his/her parent in an interactive play session with objects. By using a head-mounted eye tracking device, we recorded visual scenes from the infant’s point of view, along with the parent’s social input with respect to gaze, labeling, and actions of object handling. Fifty-one infants and toddlers (aged 6–18 months) from an English monolingual or a diverse bilingual household were recruited to observe the early multimodal learning experiences in an object play session. Despite that monolingual parents spoke more and labeled more frequently relative to bilingual parents, infants from both language groups benefit from a comparable amount of socially coordinated experiences where parents name the object while the object is looked at by the infant. Also, a sequential path analysis reveals multiple social coordinated pathways that facilitate infant object looking. Specifically, young children’s attention to the referent objects is directly influenced by parent’s object handling. These findings point to the new approach to early language input and how multimodal learning experiences are coordinated socially for young children growing up with monolingual and bilingual learning contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lichao Sun
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Christina D Griep
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Hanako Yoshida
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States
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6
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van der Feest SVH, Rose MC, Johnson EK. Showing strength through flexibility: Multi-accent toddlers recognize words quickly and efficiently. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2022; 227:105083. [PMID: 35180568 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2021] [Revised: 01/10/2022] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
One of the great mysteries of language acquisition is how children cope with variation in their input. If one parent says pah-tah-to and the other parent says pah-tay-to, how does this affect a child's speech processing development? Past research suggests variableinput may have negative effects on the efficiency of multi-accent children'swordrecognition, leading to slower word recognition compared to mono-accent children, and even failure to recognize words in their parent's non-dominant accent. Here, were-examine speed ofwordrecognitionina large sample of Dutch-learning 24-month-olds (n = 96) who receive routine exposure to one versus two varieties of their native language.. We conclude that multi-accent children are equipped to flexibly adapt to their variable speech input, and show no language delay at 24 months of age. Contrary to earlier reports, we find no evidence that exposure to multiple varieties has long-lasting detrimental effects ontoddler's wordrecognition efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suzanne V H van der Feest
- Program in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Program in Linguistics, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA.
| | - Maya C Rose
- Program in Educational Psychology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA.
| | - Elizabeth K Johnson
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 3359 Mississauga Rd., Mississauga, ON, Canada.
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7
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Arredondo MM, Aslin RN, Werker JF. Bilingualism alters infants' cortical organization for attentional orienting mechanisms. Dev Sci 2022; 25:e13172. [PMID: 34418259 PMCID: PMC11225098 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2020] [Revised: 07/21/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
A bilingual environment is associated with changes in the brain's structure and function. Some suggest that bilingualism also improves higher-cognitive functions in infants as young as 6-months, yet whether this effect is associated with changes in the infant brain remains unknown. In the present study, we measured brain activity using functional near-infrared spectroscopy in monolingual- and bilingual-raised 6- and 10-month-old infants. Infants completed an orienting attention task, in which a cue was presented prior to an object appearing on the same (Valid) or opposite (Invalid) side of a display. Task performance did not differ between the groups but neural activity did. At 6-months, both groups showed greater activity for Valid (> Invalid) trials in frontal regions (left hemisphere for bilinguals, right hemisphere for monolinguals). At 10-months, bilinguals showed greater activity for Invalid (> Valid) trials in bilateral frontal regions, while monolinguals showed greater brain activity for Valid (> Invalid) trials in left frontal regions. Bilinguals' brain activity trended with their parents' reporting of dual-language mixing when speaking to their child. These findings are the first to indicate how early (dual) language experience can alter the cortical organization underlying broader, non-linguistic cognitive functions during the first year of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria M. Arredondo
- The University of Texas at Austin
- Haskins Laboratories
- The University of British Columbia
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8
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Arredondo MM, Aslin RN, Zhang M, Werker JF. Attentional orienting abilities in bilinguals: Evidence from a large infant sample. Infant Behav Dev 2022; 66:101683. [PMID: 34999429 PMCID: PMC8842846 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2020] [Revised: 12/06/2021] [Accepted: 12/08/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
A key question in studies of cognitive development is whether bilingual environments impact higher-cognitive functions. Inconclusive evidence in search of a "bilingual cognitive advantage" has sparked debates on the reliability of these findings. Few studies with infants have examined this question, but most of them include small samples. The current study presents evidence from a large sample of 6- and 10-month-old monolingual- and bilingual-exposed infants (N = 152), which includes a longitudinal subset (n = 31), who completed a cueing attentional orienting task. The results suggest bilingual infants showed significant developmental gains in latency performance during the condition that was most cognitively demanding (Incongruent). The results also revealed bilingual infants' performance was associated with their parents' dual-language switching behavior. Taken together, these results provide support that bilingual experiences (i.e., dual-language mixing) influence infants' shifting and orienting of attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria M Arredondo
- The University of Texas at Austin, USA; Haskins Laboratories, USA; The University of British Columbia, Canada.
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9
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How does bilingualism modify cognitive function? Attention to the mechanism. Psychon Bull Rev 2022; 29:1246-1269. [PMID: 35091993 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02057-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/03/2022] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
It has been claimed that bilingual experience leads to an enhancement of cognitive control across the lifespan, a claim that has been investigated by comparing monolingual and bilingual groups performing standard executive function (EF) tasks. The results of these studies have been inconsistent, however, leading to controversy over the essential assumptions underlying the research program, namely, whether bilingualism produces cognitive change. We argue that the source of the inconsistency is not in the evidence but rather in the framework that has typically been used to motivate the research and interpret the results. We examine the componential view of EF with its central role for inhibition and argue that it provides a poor fit to both bilingual experience and the results of these studies. As an alternative, we propose a more holistic account based on attentional control that overrides the processes in the componential model of EF and applies to a wider range of tasks. The key element in our account is that behavioral differences between monolingual and bilingual individuals reflect differences in the efficiency and deployment of attentional control between the two language groups. In support of this point we show how attentional control provides a more satisfactory account for a range of findings that cannot reasonably be attributed to inhibition. We also suggest that group differences will emerge only when the attentional demands of a task exceed the control abilities of one of the groups, regardless of the EF components involved. We then review literature from across the lifespan to evaluate the extent to which this account is consistent with existing evidence, and conclude with some suggestions on how the field may be advanced by new lines of empirical enquiry.
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10
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Fecher N, Johnson EK. Revisiting the talker recognition advantage in bilingual infants. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 214:105276. [PMID: 34507181 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2020] [Revised: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Recent work has shown that exposure to multiple languages affects nonlinguistic processing of speech during infancy. Specifically, Fecher and Johnson found that bilingual 9-month-olds outperformed their monolingual peers in a face-voice matching task in an unfamiliar language [Developmental Science (2019a), 22(4), e12778]. What factors were driving this effect? That is, was this finding truly reflective of a bilingual advantage specific to talker processing, or did the study demonstrate a general cognitive advantage in bilingual infants? Here, we revisited this question by testing bilingual and monolingual 9-month-olds (N = 48) on their ability to associate previously unknown voices with animated cartoon characters. In comparison with earlier work, where infants were presented with characters speaking an unfamiliar language (Spanish), the characters in this study spoke a language familiar to both groups of infants (English). Critically, we found that the monolingual and bilingual infants learned the face-voice pairings equally well when they were tested on the familiar language. We conclude that whereas bilingual infants are skilled at recognizing talkers regardless of the language spoken by the talkers, monolingual infants succeed at talker recognition in a familiar language only. These results begin to clarify the underlying nature of the talker recognition benefit previously reported for bilingual infants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie Fecher
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada
| | - Elizabeth K Johnson
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada.
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11
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Williams L, Parthasarathy P, Molnar M. Measures of Bilingual Cognition - From Infancy to Adolescence. J Cogn 2021; 4:45. [PMID: 34514316 PMCID: PMC8396129 DOI: 10.5334/joc.184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
An extensive literature exists regarding the effect of bilingualism on cognition in developing populations. However, the term 'cognition' is vague and applies to a large number of different abilities. We reviewed 60 publications examining cognition in simultaneous bilingual children to understand what aspects of cognition have been studied in this population and what tasks have been used, in addition to qualitatively assessing the results of bilingual/monolingual comparisons. Executive function was the most frequently assessed cognitive ability across all age groups, paralleling the adult bilingual literature, with memory flexibility and theory of mind also emerging as common targets within infant and preschool age groups. Results are discussed in light of developmental trajectories and assessment methodologies currently available for the cognitive abilities represented in this literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay Williams
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, CA
| | | | - Monika Molnar
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, CA
- Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, CA
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12
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Brito NH, Greaves A, Leon-Santos A, Fifer WP, Noble KG. Associations between Bilingualism and Memory Generalization During Infancy: Does Socioeconomic Status Matter? BILINGUALISM (CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND) 2021; 24:231-240. [PMID: 33776545 PMCID: PMC7995805 DOI: 10.1017/s1366728920000334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Past studies have reported memory differences between monolingual and bilingual infants (Brito & Barr, 2012; Singh et al., 2015). A common critique within the bilingualism literature is the absence of socioeconomic indicators and/or a lack of socioeconomic diversity among participants. Previous research has demonstrated robust bilingual differences in memory generalization from 6- to 24-months of age. The goal of the current study was to examine if these findings would replicate in a sample of 18-month-old monolingual and bilingual infants from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds (N = 92). Results indicate no differences between language groups on working memory or cued recall, but significant differences for memory generalization, with bilingual infants outperforming monolingual infants regardless of socioeconomic status (SES). These findings replicate and extend results from past studies (Brito & Barr, 2012; Brito, Sebastián-Gallés, & Barr, 2015) and suggest possible differential learning patterns dependent on linguistic experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie H Brito
- Department of Applied Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, 10003
| | - Ashley Greaves
- Department of Applied Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, 10003
| | - Ana Leon-Santos
- Department of Biobehavioral Sciences, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027
| | - William P Fifer
- Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032
- Division of Developmental Neuroscience, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY 10032
| | - Kimberly G Noble
- Department of Biobehavioral Sciences, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027
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13
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Byers-Heinlein K, Tsui ASM, Bergmann C, Black AK, Brown A, Carbajal MJ, Durrant S, Fennell CT, Fiévet AC, Frank MC, Gampe A, Gervain J, Gonzalez-Gomez N, Hamlin JK, Havron N, Hernik M, Kerr S, Killam H, Klassen K, Kosie JE, Kovács ÁM, Lew-Williams C, Liu L, Mani N, Marino C, Mastroberardino M, Mateu V, Noble C, Orena AJ, Polka L, Potter CE, Schreiner M, Singh L, Soderstrom M, Sundara M, Waddell C, Werker JF, Wermelinger S. A multi-lab study of bilingual infants: Exploring the preference for infant-directed speech. ADVANCES IN METHODS AND PRACTICES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2021; 4:10.1177/2515245920974622. [PMID: 35821764 PMCID: PMC9273003 DOI: 10.1177/2515245920974622] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/28/2023]
Abstract
From the earliest months of life, infants prefer listening to and learn better from infant-directed speech (IDS) than adult-directed speech (ADS). Yet, IDS differs within communities, across languages, and across cultures, both in form and in prevalence. This large-scale, multi-site study used the diversity of bilingual infant experiences to explore the impact of different types of linguistic experience on infants' IDS preference. As part of the multi-lab ManyBabies 1 project, we compared lab-matched samples of 333 bilingual and 385 monolingual infants' preference for North-American English IDS (cf. ManyBabies Consortium, 2020: ManyBabies 1), tested in 17 labs in 7 countries. Those infants were tested in two age groups: 6-9 months (the younger sample) and 12-15 months (the older sample). We found that bilingual and monolingual infants both preferred IDS to ADS, and did not differ in terms of the overall magnitude of this preference. However, amongst bilingual infants who were acquiring North-American English (NAE) as a native language, greater exposure to NAE was associated with a stronger IDS preference, extending the previous finding from ManyBabies 1 that monolinguals learning NAE as a native language showed a stronger preference than infants unexposed to NAE. Together, our findings indicate that IDS preference likely makes a similar contribution to monolingual and bilingual development, and that infants are exquisitely sensitive to the nature and frequency of different types of language input in their early environments.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Judit Gervain
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center (INCC), CNRS & Université Paris Descartes
| | | | | | | | | | - Shila Kerr
- McGill University, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Caterina Marino
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center (INCC), CNRS & Université Paris Descartes
| | | | | | | | | | - Linda Polka
- McGill University, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders
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14
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Byers-Heinlein K, Tsui RKY, van Renswoude D, Black AK, Barr R, Brown A, Colomer M, Durrant S, Gampe A, Gonzalez-Gomez N, Hay JF, Hernik M, Jartó M, Kovács ÁM, Laoun-Rubenstein A, Lew-Williams C, Liszkowski U, Liu L, Noble C, Potter CE, Rocha-Hidalgo J, Sebastian-Galles N, Soderstrom M, Visser I, Waddell C, Wermelinger S, Singh L. The development of gaze following in monolingual and bilingual infants: A multi-laboratory study. INFANCY 2021; 26:4-38. [PMID: 33306867 PMCID: PMC8763331 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Determining the meanings of words requires language learners to attend to what other people say. However, it behooves a young language learner to simultaneously encode relevant non-verbal cues, for example, by following the direction of their eye gaze. Sensitivity to cues such as eye gaze might be particularly important for bilingual infants, as they encounter less consistency between words and objects than monolingual infants, and do not always have access to the same word-learning heuristics (e.g., mutual exclusivity). In a preregistered study, we tested the hypothesis that bilingual experience would lead to a more pronounced ability to follow another's gaze. We used a gaze-following paradigm developed by Senju and Csibra (Current Biology, 18, 2008, 668) to test a total of 93 6- to 9-month-old and 229 12- to 15-month-old monolingual and bilingual infants, in 11 laboratories located in 8 countries. Monolingual and bilingual infants showed similar gaze-following abilities, and both groups showed age-related improvements in speed, accuracy, frequency, and duration of fixations to congruent objects. Unexpectedly, bilinguals tended to make more frequent fixations to on-screen objects, whether or not they were cued by the actor. These results suggest that gaze sensitivity is a fundamental aspect of development that is robust to variation in language exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Anja Gampe
- University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Liquan Liu
- Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Leher Singh
- National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
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15
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Singh L. Bilingual Infants are More Sensitive to Morally Relevant Social Behavior than Monolingual Infants. JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2020. [DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2020.1807987] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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16
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Singh L, Tan ARY, Lee K, Quinn PC. Sensitivity to race in language comprehension in monolingual and bilingual infants. J Exp Child Psychol 2020; 199:104933. [PMID: 32731045 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2020] [Revised: 06/17/2020] [Accepted: 06/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Past studies suggest that monolingual and bilingual infants respond differently to race information in face discrimination and social learning tasks. In particular, bilingual infants have been shown to respond more similarly to own- and other-race individuals, in contrast to monolingual infants, who respond preferentially to own-race individuals. In the current study, we investigated monolingual and bilingual sensitivity to speaker race in spoken word recognition. Two-year-old infants were presented with spoken words in association with visual targets. Words were presented in association with own- or other-race actors and were either correctly pronounced or mispronounced. Measuring speech-responsive eye movements to visual targets, we analyzed fixation to visual targets for correct and mispronounced words in relation to speaker race for each group. When presented with own-race speakers, both monolingual and bilingual infants associated correctly pronounced labels, but not mispronounced labels, with visual targets. When presented with other-race speakers, bilingual infants responded similarly. In contrast, monolingual infants did not fixate visual targets regardless of whether words were correctly pronounced or mispronounced by an other-race speaker. Results are discussed in terms of the sensitivities of bilingual and monolingual infants to novelty, learned associations between race and language, and prior social experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leher Singh
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
| | - Annabel R Y Tan
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore
| | - Kang Lee
- Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6, Canada
| | - Paul C Quinn
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
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Kalashnikova M, Pejovic J, Carreiras M. The effects of bilingualism on attentional processes in the first year of life. Dev Sci 2020; 24:e13011. [DOI: 10.1111/desc.13011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2019] [Revised: 06/22/2020] [Accepted: 06/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Jovana Pejovic
- BCBL – Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language San Sebastian Spain
- University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU San Sebastian Spain
- Laboratorio de Fonetica & Lisbon Baby Lab Centro de Linguistica Faculdade de Letras Universidade de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal
| | - Manuel Carreiras
- BCBL – Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language San Sebastian Spain
- University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU San Sebastian Spain
- Ikerbasque – Basque Foundation for Science Bilbao Spain
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18
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Antovich DM, Graf Estes K. One language or two? Navigating cross-language conflict in statistical word segmentation. Dev Sci 2020; 23:e12960. [PMID: 32145042 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2019] [Revised: 01/22/2020] [Accepted: 02/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Bilingual infants must navigate the similarities and differences between their languages to achieve native proficiency in childhood. Bilinguals learning to find individual words in fluent speech face the possibility of conflicting cues to word boundaries across their languages. Despite this challenge, bilingual infants typically begin to segment and learn words in both languages around the same time as monolinguals. It is possible that early bilingual experience may support infants' abilities to track regularities relevant for word segmentation separately across their languages. In a dual speech stream statistical word segmentation task, we assessed whether 16-month-old infants could track syllable co-occurrence regularities in two artificial languages despite conflicting information across the languages. We found that bilingual, but not monolingual, infants were able to segment the dual speech streams using statistical regularities. Although the two language groups did not differ on secondary measures of cognitive and linguistic development, bilingual infants' real-world experience with bilingual speakers was predictive of their performance in the dual language statistical segmentation task.
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19
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Crespo K, Gross M, Kaushanskaya M. The effects of dual language exposure on executive function in Spanish-English bilingual children with different language abilities. J Exp Child Psychol 2019; 188:104663. [PMID: 31446311 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2018] [Revised: 07/08/2019] [Accepted: 07/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The current study examined the effects of dual language exposure on executive function in 5- to 11-year-old Spanish-English bilingual children with different language skills. Dual language exposure was measured via parent report and was operationalized as the proportion of time spent in an environment where both English and Spanish were present. Executive function was measured via the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task. Shifting costs, switching costs, and mixing costs were derived to index executive function performance. A significant interaction between extent of dual language exposure and language skills was observed such that children showed smaller shifting and mixing costs with increased dual language input as their language skills increased. The results suggest a graded effect of dual language exposure on executive function, where a robust language system may be required for dual language exposure to influence executive function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kimberly Crespo
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
| | - Megan Gross
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Margarita Kaushanskaya
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
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20
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Verhagen J, de Bree E, Unsworth S. Effects of Bilingual Language Use and Language Proficiency on 24-month-olds’ Cognitive Control. JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2019.1673752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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21
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Byers-Heinlein K, Esposito AG, Winsler A, Marian V, Castro DC, Luk G. The Case for Measuring and Reporting Bilingualism in Developmental Research. COLLABRA. PSYCHOLOGY 2019; 5:37. [PMID: 32133435 PMCID: PMC7056406 DOI: 10.1525/collabra.233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Many children around the world grow up bilingual, learning and using two or more languages in everyday life. Currently, however, children's language backgrounds are not always reported in developmental studies. There is mounting evidence that bilingualism interacts with a wide array of processes including language, cognitive, perceptual, brain, and social development, as well as educational outcomes. As such, bilingualism may be a hidden moderator that obscures developmental patterns, and limits the replicability of developmental research and the efficacy of psychological and educational interventions. Here, we argue that bilingualism and language experience in general should be routinely documented in all studies of infant and child development regardless of the research questions pursued, and provide suggestions for measuring and reporting children's language exposure, proficiency, and use.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Adam Winsler
- Department of Psychology, George Mason University, US
| | - Viorica Marian
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, US
| | | | - Gigi Luk
- Department of Education and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, CA
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22
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Barr R, Rusnak SN, Brito NH, Nugent C. Actions speak louder than words: Differences in memory flexibility between monolingual and bilingual 18-month-olds. Dev Sci 2019; 23:e12881. [PMID: 31206995 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2018] [Revised: 05/25/2019] [Accepted: 06/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Bilingual infants from 6- to 24-months of age are more likely to generalize, flexibly reproducing actions on novel objects significantly more often than age-matched monolingual infants are. In the current study, we examine whether the addition of novel verbal labels enhances memory generalization in a perceptually complex imitation task. We hypothesized that labels would provide an additional retrieval cue and aid memory generalization for bilingual infants. Specifically, we hypothesized that bilinguals might be more likely than monolinguals to map multiple perceptual features onto a novel label and therefore show enhanced generalization. Eighty-seven 18-month-old monolingual and bilingual infants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions or a baseline control condition. In the experimental conditions, either no label or a novel label was added during demonstration and again at the beginning of the test session. After a 24-hr delay, infants were tested with the same stimulus set to test cued recall and with a perceptually different but functionally equivalent stimulus set to test memory generalization. Bilinguals performed significantly above baseline on both cued recall and memory generalization in both experimental conditions, whereas monolinguals performed significantly above baseline only on cued recall in both experimental conditions. These findings show a difference between monolinguals and bilinguals in memory generalization and suggest that generalization differences between groups may arise from visual perceptual processing rather than linguistic processing. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://youtu.be/yXB4pM3fF2k.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Barr
- Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia
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23
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Cuevas K, Sheya A. Ontogenesis of learning and memory: Biopsychosocial and dynamical systems perspectives. Dev Psychobiol 2018; 61:402-415. [PMID: 30575962 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2018] [Revised: 10/12/2018] [Accepted: 10/31/2018] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
In this article, we review recent empirical and theoretical work on infant memory development, highlighting future directions for the field. We consider the state of the field since Carolyn Rovee-Collier's call for developmental scientists to "shift the focus from what to why," emphasizing the function of infant behavior and the value of integrating fractionized, highly specialized subfields. We discuss functional approaches of early learning and memory, including ecological models of memory development and relevant empirical work in human and non-human organisms. Ontogenetic changes in learning and memory occur in developing biological systems, which are embedded in broader socio-cultural contexts with shifting ecological demands that are in part determined by the infants themselves. We incorporate biopsychosocial and dynamical systems perspectives as we analyze the state of the field's integration of multiple areas of specialization to provide more holistic understanding of the contributing factors and underlying mechanisms of the development of memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kimberly Cuevas
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Waterbury, Connecticut
| | - Adam Sheya
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
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24
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Fecher N, Johnson EK. Bilingual infants excel at foreign-language talker recognition. Dev Sci 2018; 22:e12778. [DOI: 10.1111/desc.12778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2018] [Accepted: 11/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Natalie Fecher
- Department of Psychology; University of Toronto Mississauga; Mississauga Canada
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25
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Tsang T, Atagi N, Johnson SP. Selective attention to the mouth is associated with expressive language skills in monolingual and bilingual infants. J Exp Child Psychol 2018; 169:93-109. [PMID: 29406126 PMCID: PMC5933852 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2017] [Revised: 12/06/2017] [Accepted: 01/03/2018] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Infants increasingly attend to the mouths of others during the latter half of the first postnatal year, and individual differences in selective attention to talking mouths during infancy predict verbal skills during toddlerhood. There is some evidence suggesting that trajectories in mouth-looking vary by early language environment, in particular monolingual or bilingual language exposure, which may have differential consequences in developing sensitivity to the communicative and social affordances of the face. Here, we evaluated whether 6- to 12-month-olds' mouth-looking is related to skills associated with concurrent social communicative development-including early language functioning and emotion discriminability. We found that attention to the mouth of a talking face increased with age but that mouth-looking was more strongly associated with concurrent expressive language skills than chronological age for both monolingual and bilingual infants. Mouth-looking was not related to emotion discrimination. These data suggest that selective attention to a talking mouth may be one important mechanism by which infants learn language regardless of home language environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tawny Tsang
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
| | - Natsuki Atagi
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Scott P Johnson
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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26
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Antovich DM, Graf Estes K. Learning across languages: bilingual experience supports dual language statistical word segmentation. Dev Sci 2018; 21:10.1111/desc.12548. [PMID: 28156032 PMCID: PMC6594691 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2016] [Accepted: 11/30/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Bilingual acquisition presents learning challenges beyond those found in monolingual environments, including the need to segment speech in two languages. Infants may use statistical cues, such as syllable-level transitional probabilities, to segment words from fluent speech. In the present study we assessed monolingual and bilingual 14-month-olds' abilities to segment two artificial languages using transitional probability cues. In Experiment 1, monolingual infants successfully segmented the speech streams when the languages were presented individually. However, monolinguals did not segment the same language stimuli when they were presented together in interleaved segments, mimicking the language switches inherent to bilingual speech. To assess the effect of real-world bilingual experience on dual language speech segmentation, Experiment 2 tested infants with regular exposure to two languages using the same interleaved language stimuli as Experiment 1. The bilingual infants in Experiment 2 successfully segmented the languages, indicating that early exposure to two languages supports infants' abilities to segment dual language speech using transitional probability cues. These findings support the notion that early bilingual exposure prepares infants to navigate challenging aspects of dual language environments as they begin to acquire two languages.
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27
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Antovich DM, Graf Estes K. Learning across languages: bilingual experience supports dual language statistical word segmentation. Dev Sci 2018; 21:10.1111/desc.12548. [PMID: 28156032 PMCID: PMC6594691 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12548 10.1111/desc.12548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2016] [Accepted: 11/30/2016] [Indexed: 03/25/2024]
Abstract
Bilingual acquisition presents learning challenges beyond those found in monolingual environments, including the need to segment speech in two languages. Infants may use statistical cues, such as syllable-level transitional probabilities, to segment words from fluent speech. In the present study we assessed monolingual and bilingual 14-month-olds' abilities to segment two artificial languages using transitional probability cues. In Experiment 1, monolingual infants successfully segmented the speech streams when the languages were presented individually. However, monolinguals did not segment the same language stimuli when they were presented together in interleaved segments, mimicking the language switches inherent to bilingual speech. To assess the effect of real-world bilingual experience on dual language speech segmentation, Experiment 2 tested infants with regular exposure to two languages using the same interleaved language stimuli as Experiment 1. The bilingual infants in Experiment 2 successfully segmented the languages, indicating that early exposure to two languages supports infants' abilities to segment dual language speech using transitional probability cues. These findings support the notion that early bilingual exposure prepares infants to navigate challenging aspects of dual language environments as they begin to acquire two languages.
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28
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Singh L. He said, she said: effects of bilingualism on cross-talker word recognition in infancy. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2018; 45:498-510. [PMID: 28554334 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000917000186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The purpose of the current study was to examine effects of bilingual language input on infant word segmentation and on talker generalization. In the present study, monolingually and bilingually exposed infants were compared on their abilities to recognize familiarized words in speech and to maintain generalizable representations of familiarized words. Words were first presented in the context of sentences to infants and then presented to infants in isolation during a test phase. During test, words were produced by a talker of the same gender and by a talker of the opposite gender. Results demonstrated that both bilingual and monolingual infants were able to recognize familiarized words to a comparable degree. Moreover, both bilingual and monolingual infants recognized words in spite of talker variation. Results demonstrated robust word recognition and talker generalization in monolingual and bilingual infants at 8 months of age.
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29
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30
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Singh L, Loh D, Xiao NG. Bilingual Infants Demonstrate Perceptual Flexibility in Phoneme Discrimination but Perceptual Constraint in Face Discrimination. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1563. [PMID: 28955278 PMCID: PMC5601050 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01563] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2017] [Accepted: 08/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Perceptual narrowing is a highly significant development associated with the first year of life. It conventionally refers to an orientation toward nativeness whereby infant's perceptual sensitivities begin to align with the phonetic properties of their native environment. Nativeness effects, such as perceptual narrowing, have been observed in several domains, most notably, in face discrimination within other-race faces and speech discrimination of non-native phonemes. Thus, far, nativeness effects in the face and speech perception have been theoretically linked, but have mostly been investigated independently. An important caveat to nativeness effects is that diversifying experiences, such as bilingualism or multiracial exposure, can lead to a reduction or postponement in attunement to the native environment. The present study was designed to investigate whether bilingualism influences nativeness effects in phonetic and face perception. Eleven-month-old monolingual and bilingual infants were tested on their abilities to discriminate native and non-native speech contrasts as well as own-race and other-race face contrasts. While monolingual infants demonstrated nativeness effects in face and speech perception, bilingual infants demonstrated nativeness effects in the face perception but demonstrated flexibility in speech perception. Results support domain-specific effects of bilingual experience on nativeness effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leher Singh
- Department of Psychology, National University of SingaporeSingapore, Singapore
| | - Darrell Loh
- Department of Psychology, National University of SingaporeSingapore, Singapore
| | - Naiqi G. Xiao
- Department of Psychology, Princeton UniversityPrinceton, NJ, United States
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31
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Abstract
According to some estimates, more than half of the world's population is multilingual to some extent. Because of the centrality of language use to human experience and the deep connections between linguistic and nonlinguistic processing, it would not be surprising to find that there are interactions between bilingualism and cognitive and brain processes. The present review uses the framework of experience-dependent plasticity to evaluate the evidence for systematic modifications of brain and cognitive systems that can be attributed to bilingualism. The review describes studies investigating the relation between bilingualism and cognition in infants and children, younger and older adults, and patients, using both behavioral and neuroimaging methods. Excluded are studies whose outcomes focus primarily on linguistic abilities because of their more peripheral contribution to the central question regarding experience-dependent changes to cognition. Although most of the research discussed in the review reports some relation between bilingualism and cognitive or brain outcomes, several areas of research, notably behavioral studies with young adults, largely fail to show these effects. These discrepancies are discussed and considered in terms of methodological and conceptual issues. The final section proposes an account based on "executive attention" to explain the range of research findings and to set out an agenda for the next steps in this field. (PsycINFO Database Record
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32
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Liu L, Kager R. Enhanced music sensitivity in 9-month-old bilingual infants. Cogn Process 2017; 18:55-65. [PMID: 27817073 PMCID: PMC5306126 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-016-0780-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2016] [Accepted: 10/01/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
This study explores the influence of bilingualism on the cognitive processing of language and music. Specifically, we investigate how infants learning a non-tone language perceive linguistic and musical pitch and how bilingualism affects cross-domain pitch perception. Dutch monolingual and bilingual infants of 8-9 months participated in the study. All infants had Dutch as one of the first languages. The other first languages, varying among bilingual families, were not tone or pitch accent languages. In two experiments, infants were tested on the discrimination of a lexical (N = 42) or a violin (N = 48) pitch contrast via a visual habituation paradigm. The two contrasts shared identical pitch contours but differed in timbre. Non-tone language learning infants did not discriminate the lexical contrast regardless of their ambient language environment. When perceiving the violin contrast, bilingual but not monolingual infants demonstrated robust discrimination. We attribute bilingual infants' heightened sensitivity in the musical domain to the enhanced acoustic sensitivity stemming from a bilingual environment. The distinct perceptual patterns between language and music and the influence of acoustic salience on perception suggest processing diversion and association in the first year of life. Results indicate that the perception of music may entail both shared neural network with language processing, and unique neural network that is distinct from other cognitive functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liquan Liu
- School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia.
- Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - René Kager
- School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia
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33
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Konrad C, Seehagen S, Schneider S, Herbert JS. Naps promote flexible memory retrieval in 12-month-old infants. Dev Psychobiol 2016; 58:866-874. [PMID: 27197794 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2015] [Accepted: 05/06/2016] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Flexibility in applying existing knowledge to similar cues is a corner stone of memory development in infants. Here, we examine the effect of sleep on the flexibility of memory retrieval using a deferred imitation paradigm. Forty-eight 12-month-old infants were randomly assigned to either a nap or a no-nap demonstration condition (scheduled around their natural daytime sleep schedule) or to a baseline control condition. In the demonstration conditions, infants watched an experimenter perform three target actions on a hand puppet. Immediately afterwards, infants were allowed to practice the target actions three times. In a test session 4-hr later, infants were given the opportunity to reproduce the actions with a novel hand puppet differing in color from the puppet used during the demonstration session. Only infants in the nap-condition performed significantly more target actions than infants in the baseline control condition. Furthermore, they were faster to carry out the first target action than infants in the no-nap condition. We conclude that sleep had a facilitative effect on infants' flexibility of memory retrieval.
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34
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Singh L, Poh FLS, Fu CSL. Limits on Monolingualism? A Comparison of Monolingual and Bilingual Infants' Abilities to Integrate Lexical Tone in Novel Word Learning. Front Psychol 2016; 7:667. [PMID: 27242584 PMCID: PMC4861728 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2016] [Accepted: 04/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
To construct their first lexicon, infants must determine the relationship between native phonological variation and the meanings of words. This process is arguably more complex for bilingual learners who are often confronted with phonological conflict: phonological variation that is lexically relevant in one language may be lexically irrelevant in the other. In a series of four experiments, the present study investigated English-Mandarin bilingual infants' abilities to negotiate phonological conflict introduced by learning both a tone and a non-tone language. In a novel word learning task, bilingual children were tested on their sensitivity to tone variation in English and Mandarin contexts. Their abilities to interpret tone variation in a language-dependent manner were compared to those of monolingual Mandarin learning infants. Results demonstrated that at 12-13 months, bilingual infants demonstrated the ability to bind tone to word meanings in Mandarin, but to disregard tone variation when learning new words in English. In contrast, monolingual learners of Mandarin did not show evidence of integrating tones into word meanings in Mandarin at the same age even though they were learning a tone language. However, a tone discrimination paradigm confirmed that monolingual Mandarin learning infants were able to tell these tones apart at 12-13 months under a different set of conditions. Later, at 17-18 months, monolingual Mandarin learners were able to bind tone variation to word meanings when learning new words. Our findings are discussed in terms of cognitive adaptations associated with bilingualism that may ease the negotiation of phonological conflict and facilitate precocious uptake of certain properties of each language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leher Singh
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, SingaporeSingapore
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35
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Lukowski AF, Milojevich HM. Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm. J Vis Exp 2016:53347. [PMID: 27167994 PMCID: PMC4942010 DOI: 10.3791/53347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to recall the past allows us to report on details of previous experiences, from the everyday to the significant. Because recall memory is commonly assessed using verbal report paradigms in adults, studying the development of this ability in preverbal infants and children proved challenging. Over the past 30 years, researchers have developed a non-verbal means of assessing recall memory known as the elicited or deferred imitation paradigm. In one variant of the procedure, participants are presented with novel three-dimensional stimuli for a brief baseline period before a researcher demonstrates a series of actions that culminate in an end- or goal-state. The participant is allowed to imitate the demonstrated actions immediately, after a delay, or both. Recall performance is then compared to baseline or to performance on novel control sequences presented at the same session; memory can be assessed for the individual target actions and the order in which they were completed. This procedure is an accepted analogue to the verbal report techniques used with adults, and it has served to establish a solid foundation of the nature of recall memory in infancy and early childhood. In addition, the elicited or deferred imitation procedure has been modified and adapted to answer questions relevant to other aspects of cognitive functioning. The broad utility and application of imitation paradigms is discussed, along with limitations of the approach and directions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela F Lukowski
- Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California-Irvine;
| | - Helen M Milojevich
- Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California-Irvine
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36
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Schroeder SR, Marian V. Cognitive Consequences of Trilingualism. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BILINGUALISM : CROSS-DISCIPLINARY, CROSS-LINGUISTIC STUDIES OF LANGUAGE BEHAVIOR 2016; 21:754-773. [PMID: 29151803 PMCID: PMC5693318 DOI: 10.1177/1367006916637288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The objectives of the present research were to examine the cognitive consequences of trilingualism and explain them relative to the cognitive consequences of bilingualism. APPROACH A comparison of cognitive abilities in trilinguals and bilinguals was conducted. In addition, we proposed a cognitive plasticity framework to account for cognitive differences and similarities between trilinguals and bilinguals. DATA AND ANALYSIS Three aspects of cognition were analyzed: (1) cognitive reserve in older adults, as measured by age of onset of Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment; (2) inhibitory control in children and younger adults, as measured by response times on behavioral Simon and flanker tasks; and (3) memory generalization in infants and toddlers, as measured by accuracy on behavioral deferred imitation tasks. Results were considered within a framework of cognitive plasticity, which took into account several factors that may affect plasticity, including the age of learning a third language and the extent to which additional cognitive resources are needed to learn the third language. FINDINGS A mixed pattern of results was observed. In some cases, such as cognitive reserve in older adults, trilinguals showed larger advantages than bilinguals. On other measures, for example inhibitory control in children and younger adults, trilinguals were found to exhibit the same advantages as bilinguals. In still other cases, like memory generalization in infants and toddlers, trilinguals did not demonstrate the advantages seen in bilinguals. ORIGINALITY This study is the first comprehensive analysis of how learning a third language affects the cognitive abilities that are modified by bilingual experience, and the first to propose a cognitive plasticity framework that can explain and predict trilingual-bilingual differences. SIGNIFICANCE This research shows that the cognitive consequences of trilingualism are not simply an extension of bilingualism's effects; rather, trilingualism has distinct consequences, with theoretical implications for our understanding of linguistic and cognitive processes and their plasticity, as well as applied-science implications for using second and third language learning in educational and rehabilitative contexts to foster successful cognitive development and aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott R Schroeder
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University
| | - Viorica Marian
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University
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Konrad C, Herbert JS, Schneider S, Seehagen S. The relationship between prior night's sleep and measures of infant imitation. Dev Psychobiol 2016; 58:450-61. [PMID: 26762973 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2015] [Accepted: 11/22/2015] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
We examined whether sleep quality during the night and naps during the day preceding a learning event are related to memory encoding in human infants. Twenty-four 6- and twenty-four 12-month-old infants' natural sleeping behavior was monitored for 24 hr using actigraphy. After the recording period, encoding was assessed using an imitation paradigm. In an initial baseline phase, infants were allowed to interact with the stimulus to assess spontaneous production of any target actions. Infants then watched an experimenter demonstrate a sequence of three target actions and were immediately given the opportunity to reproduce the demonstrated target actions to assess memory encoding. Analyses revealed significant correlations between nighttime sleep quality variables (sleep efficiency, sleep fragmentation) and immediate imitation in 6-month-olds, but not in 12-month-olds. High sleep quality in the preceding night was thus positively associated with next day's memory encoding in 6-month-old infants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolin Konrad
- Department of Psychology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Massenbergstr. 9-13, Bochum, 44787, Germany.
| | | | - Silvia Schneider
- Department of Psychology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Massenbergstr. 9-13, Bochum, 44787, Germany
| | - Sabine Seehagen
- Department of Psychology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Massenbergstr. 9-13, Bochum, 44787, Germany
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The effects of bilingual growth on toddlers' executive function. J Exp Child Psychol 2015; 141:121-32. [PMID: 26402219 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2014] [Revised: 08/17/2015] [Accepted: 08/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The mastery of two languages provides bilingual speakers with cognitive benefits over monolinguals, particularly on cognitive flexibility and selective attention. However, extant research is limited to comparisons between monolinguals and bilinguals at a single point in time. This study investigated whether growth in bilingual proficiency, as shown by an increased number of translation equivalents (TEs) over a 7-month period, improves executive function. We hypothesized that bilingual toddlers with a larger increase of TEs would have more practice in switching across lexical systems, boosting executive function abilities. Expressive vocabulary and TEs were assessed at 24 and 31 months of age. A battery of tasks, including conflict, delay, and working memory tasks, was administered at 31 months. As expected, we observed a task-specific advantage in inhibitory control in bilinguals. More important, within the bilingual group, larger increases in the number of TEs predicted better performance on conflict tasks but not on delay tasks. This unique longitudinal design confirms the relation between executive function and early bilingualism.
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Brito NH, Grenell A, Barr R. Specificity of the bilingual advantage for memory: examining cued recall, generalization, and working memory in monolingual, bilingual, and trilingual toddlers. Front Psychol 2014; 5:1369. [PMID: 25520686 PMCID: PMC4251311 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2014] [Accepted: 11/10/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The specificity of the bilingual advantage in memory was examined by testing groups of monolingual, bilingual, and trilingual 24-month-olds on tasks tapping cued recall, memory generalization and working memory. For the cued recall and memory generalization conditions, there was a 24-h delay between time of encoding and time of retrieval. In addition to the memory tasks, parent-toddler dyads completed a picture-book reading task, in order to observe emotional responsiveness, and a parental report of productive vocabulary. Results indicated no difference between language groups on cued recall, working memory, emotional responsiveness, or productive vocabulary, but a significant difference was found in the memory generalization condition with only the bilingual group outperforming the baseline control group. These results replicate and extend results from past studies (Brito and Barr, 2012, 2014; Brito et al., 2014) and suggest a bilingual advantage specific to memory generalization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie H. Brito
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholars, Columbia University in the City of New YorkNew York, NY, USA
| | - Amanda Grenell
- Department of Psychology, Georgetown UniversityWashington, DC, USA
| | - Rachel Barr
- Department of Psychology, Georgetown UniversityWashington, DC, USA
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Watson TL, Robbins RA, Best CT. Infant perceptual development for faces and spoken words: an integrated approach. Dev Psychobiol 2014; 56:1454-81. [PMID: 25132626 PMCID: PMC4231232 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21243] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2013] [Accepted: 06/24/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
There are obvious differences between recognizing faces and recognizing spoken words or phonemes that might suggest development of each capability requires different skills. Recognizing faces and perceiving spoken language, however, are in key senses extremely similar endeavors. Both perceptual processes are based on richly variable, yet highly structured input from which the perceiver needs to extract categorically meaningful information. This similarity could be reflected in the perceptual narrowing that occurs within the first year of life in both domains. We take the position that the perceptual and neurocognitive processes by which face and speech recognition develop are based on a set of common principles. One common principle is the importance of systematic variability in the input as a source of information rather than noise. Experience of this variability leads to perceptual tuning to the critical properties that define individual faces or spoken words versus their membership in larger groupings of people and their language communities. We argue that parallels can be drawn directly between the principles responsible for the development of face and spoken language perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamara L Watson
- School of Social Science and Psychology, University of Western SydneyNew South Wales, Australia
- MARCS Institute, University of Western SydneyNew South Wales, Australia
| | - Rachel A Robbins
- School of Social Science and Psychology, University of Western SydneyNew South Wales, Australia
| | - Catherine T Best
- MARCS Institute, University of Western SydneyNew South Wales, Australia
- School of Humanities and Communication Arts, University of Western SydneyNew South Wales, Australia
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