Dynamic systems in semiotic development: The transition to reference

Attention-sensitive signalling by 7- to 20-month-old infants in a comparative perspective

Attention-sensitive signalling is the pragmatic skill of signallers who adjust the modality of their communicative signals to their recipient's attention state. This study provides the first comprehensive evidence for its onset and development in 7-to 20-month-olds human infants, and underlines its significance for language acquisition and evolutionary history. Mother-infant dyads (N = 30) were studied in naturalistic settings, sampled according to three developmental periods (in months); [7-10], [11-14], and [15-20]. Infant's signals were classified by dominant perceptible sensory modality and proportions compared according to their mother's visual attention, infant-directed speech and tactile contact. Maternal visual attention and infant-directed speech were influential on the onset and steepness of infants' communicative adjustments. The ability to inhibit silent-visual signals towards visually inattentive mothers (unimodal adjustment) predated the ability to deploy audible-or-contact signals in this case (cross-modal adjustment). Maternal scaffolding of infant's early pragmatic skills through her infant-directed speech operates on the facilitation of infant's unimodal adjustment, the preference for oral over gestural signals, and the audio-visual combinations of signals. Additionally, breakdowns in maternal visual attention are associated with increased use of the audible-oral modality/channel. The evolutionary role of the sharing of attentional resources between parents and infants into the emergence of modern language is discussed.

Patterns of attention-sensitive communication contribute to 7-20-month-olds' emerging pragmatic skills

The present study aimed at investigating the ability of 7- to 20-month-old infants to display attention-sensitive communication using either canonical markers of language acquisition (e.g., pointing gestures, canonical babblings) or other signals based on the physical features actually perceived by the mother in everyday interaction (e.g., body movements, mouth sounds). We studied 30 French mother-infant dyads in naturalistic settings. We assessed the infants' attention-sensitive communication through unimodal and cross-modal adjustment, defined as the capacity of infants to address visually inattentive mothers by avoiding visual communication mismatches and/or favoring communication matches through audible-or-contact signals. Unimodal and cross-modal adjustments were tested for specific signals across spontaneous "conditions" of maternal visual attention (attentive/inattentive) from video footage filmed in the home. Both canonical markers of language development and signals belonging to an extended repertoire of communication were used by infants to adjust to their mother's visual attention. Gaze-coordinated signals were overall not significantly better adjusted to maternal attention than non-gaze-coordinated signals, except for specific silent-visual signals at certain ages. Overall, these results indicate that attention-sensitive communication is relevant to the development of early pragmatic skills and that the intentional use of signals may be more reliably approximated by this capacity than by gaze-coordination with signals.

Early triadic interactions in the first year of life: a systematic review on object-mediated shared encounters

Infants' early interactions with adults and everyday objects are key to socio-communicative development, but their emergence and development are still under debate. Aiming at describing the diversity of theoretical and methodological approaches on triadicity during the first year of life, we conducted a systematic and qualitative review of recent literature. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, we explored the scientific production of recent decades on triadic interactions up to 12 months of age. We initially screened 1943 items from which we obtained a final sample of 51 publications. Studies are usually conducted in laboratory settings, while ecological research is becoming increasingly common, especially in home settings. According to a thematic analysis of the data, we discussed the different perspectives on the origin and conceptualization of triadic interactions, and how they contribute to structuring and facilitating other developmental phenomena, such as the children's communicative gestures and uses of objects. Prior to the origin of intentional communication, adults facilitate early forms of triadicity based on fostering opportunities for infants' communication and engagement with both adults and materiality. However, there is a need for further research that explore the potential of early triadic interactions for parenting and early childhood education practises.

Six-month-old infants' communication in a comparative perspective: Do maternal attention and interaction matter?

Developmental precursors of the prelinguistic transition from gestures to word use can be found in the early pragmatic usage of auditory and visual signals across contexts. This study examined whether 6-month-old infants are capable of attention-sensitive communication with their mother, that is, adjusting the sensory modality of their communicative signals to their mother's attention. Proxies of maternal attention implemented in experimental conditions were the mother's visual attention (attentive/inattentive), interaction directed at the infant (interactive/non-interactive), and distance (far/close). The infants' signals were coded as either visual or auditory, following an ethological coding. Infants adjusted the sensory modality of their communicative signals mostly to maternal interaction. More auditory signals were produced when the mother was non-interactive than when she was interactive. Interactive conditions were characterized by higher rates of visual signaling and of gaze-coordinated non-vocal oral sounds. The more time infants spent looking at their attentive mother, the more they produced auditory signals, specifically non-vocal oral sounds. These findings are discussed within the articulated frameworks of evolutionary developmental psychology and early pragmatics.

The “Primitive Brain Dysfunction” Theory of Autism: The Superior Colliculus Role

A better understanding of the pathogenesis of autism will help clarify our conception of the complexity of normal brain development. The crucial deficit may lie in the postnatal changes that vision produces in the brainstem nuclei during early life. The superior colliculus is the primary brainstem visual center. Although difficult to examine in humans with present techniques, it is known to support behaviors essential for every vertebrate to survive, such as the ability to pay attention to relevant stimuli and to produce automatic motor responses based on sensory input. From birth to death, it acts as a brain sentinel that influences basic aspects of our behavior. It is the main brainstem hub that lies between the environment and the rest of the higher neural system, making continuous, implicit decisions about where to direct our attention. The conserved cortex-like organization of the superior colliculus in all vertebrates allows the early appearance of primitive emotionally-related behaviors essential for survival. It contains first-line specialized neurons enabling the detection and tracking of faces and movements from birth. During development, it also sends the appropriate impulses to help shape brain areas necessary for social-communicative abilities. These abilities require the analysis of numerous variables, such as the simultaneous evaluation of incoming information sustained by separate brain networks (visual, auditory and sensory-motor, social, emotional, etc.), and predictive capabilities which compare present events to previous experiences and possible responses. These critical aspects of decision-making allow us to evaluate the impact that our response or behavior may provoke in others. The purpose of this review is to show that several enigmas about the complexity of autism might be explained by disruptions of collicular and brainstem functions. The results of two separate lines of investigation: 1. the cognitive, etiologic, and pathogenic aspects of autism on one hand, and two. the functional anatomy of the colliculus on the other, are considered in order to bridge the gap between basic brain science and clinical studies and to promote future research in this unexplored area.

Grunt Vocalizations in Children With Disabilities: Relationships With Assessed Cognition and Language

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of the grunt vocalizations to cognitive and expressive language status in children with disabilities. Children with typical development produce communicative grunts at the onset of referential word production and comprehension at 14-16 months of age and continue to use this vocalization for communication as they develop language. Method All grunt vocalizations produced by 26 children with disabilities (mental age: 3-56 months; communicative age: 47-69 months) were identified from video-recorded seminaturalistic play sessions. Grunts were identified as accompanying effort or attention or as communicative bids. Participants were grouped as prelinguistic, emergent, language delay, and language competent based on standardized assessments of cognitive and language level. The Mann-Whitney U test (1947) compared groups to determine the relationships between grunt production and cognitive and language status. Results As hypothesized, participants in the language delay group produced significantly more communicative grunts than those in the language competent group (W = 39, p = .028 < .05). The children with a cognitive and language level lower than 9 months (prelinguistic group) failed to produce communicative grunts. Conclusions The results document grunt production in children with disabilities in the same contexts as typical children and support the hypothesized relationship between assessed cognition and language and communicative grunt production. These results require replication. This vocalization, if recognized in treatment, may unlock verbal communication in many nonverbal children with disabilities. Future longitudinal research should include controlled intervention to determine the potential effectiveness of building broader communicative skills on this simple vocalization.

On the Multimodal Path to Language: The Relationship Between Rhythmic Movements and Deictic Gestures at the End of the First Year

The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between rhythmic movements and deictic gestures at the end of the first year of life, and to focus on their unimodal or multimodal character. We hypothesize that multimodal rhythmic movement performed with an object in the hand can facilitate the transition to the first deictic gestures. Twenty-three children were observed at 9 and 12 months of age in a naturalistic play situation with their mother or father. Results showed that rhythmic movements with objects in the hand are a frequent behavior in children's repertoires. Rhythmic behaviors tend to decrease from 9 to 12 months, specifically when they are unimodal. Multimodal rhythmic behavior production at 9 months is positively related with proximal deictic gestures 3 months later. Multimodal rhythmic movements are not directly related to distal deictic gestures, but are indirectly related via proximal deictic gestures. These results highlight the relevance of multimodal behaviors in the transition to the use of early gestures, and can be considered as a transitional phenomenon between the instrumental action and early communicative gestures.

Object play as a mediator of the role of exploration in communication skills development

In this study, we investigated exploration and language development, particularly whether preliminary object play mediates the role of exploration in gesture and speech production. We followed 27 infants, aged 8-17 months, and gathered data on the frequency of their exploration, preliminary functional acts with single or multiple objects, and communicative behaviors (e.g., gesturing and single-word utterances). The results of our path analysis indicated that exploration had a direct effect on single-object play, which, in turn, affected gesturing and advanced object play. Gesturing as well as single and multi-object play affected speech production. These findings suggest that exploration is associated with language development. This association may be facilitated by object play milestones in which infants recall the object's function, which strengthens their memory and representation skills. Further, recalling the usage of an object by the caregivers may encourage an infant's overall imitation tendency, which is important for learning how to communicate with gestures and words.