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Montanari S, Steffman J, Mayr R. English Vowel Perception in Spanish-English Bilingual Preschoolers: Multiple-Talker Input Is Only Beneficial for Children With High Language Exposure Levels. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2024; 67:3643-3659. [PMID: 39292920 DOI: 10.1044/2024_jslhr-24-00044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/20/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSES This study examines English vowel perception in Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers, comparing bilinguals' perception patterns to those of monolinguals and examining how child internal (age) and external variables (input quantity and input diversity) predict perceptual performance. METHOD Sixty children between 3;6 and 5;6 (years;months) of age participated in the study, 28 of whom were Spanish-English bilinguals and 32 English monolinguals. Perception was assessed through a forced-choice minimal-pair identification task in which children heard synthesized audio stimuli (i.e., "sheep" and "ship") that varied systematically along the /i-ɪ/ continuum and were asked to match them with one of two pictures. The data were analyzed with Bayesian mixed-effects logistic regression analyses, modeling responses as a function of continuum step, language background (monolingual or bilingual), age, English exposure (i.e., input quantity), and number of English input providers (i.e., input diversity). RESULTS The results indicate that, despite displaying nonnative English stop voicing perception in a previous study, the same bilingual children showed English /i-ɪ/ perception patterns that did not differ from those of monolinguals. While age did not predict vowel perception, input quantity and diversity jointly interacted to moderate how well children perceived the /i-ɪ/ contrast. Specifically, diverse input promoted perceptual performance in children who received high levels of English exposure-and who presumably had more advanced English language skills, whereas it limited perceptual performance in children with more limited English exposure and skills. CONCLUSIONS This study shows that bilingual children can show monolingual-like perception patterns for some sounds while displaying nontarget perception for others. This is the first study to demonstrate that language exposure mediates the role of input diversity on speech sound development, suggesting that varied input can be more or less beneficial for speech sound development based on the learner's language learning stage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simona Montanari
- Department of Child and Family Studies, California State University, Los Angeles
| | - Jeremy Steffman
- Linguistics and English Language, The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Robert Mayr
- Centre for Speech, Hearing and Communication Research, Cardiff Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
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2
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Mousley VL, MacSweeney M, Mercure E. Revisiting perceptual sensitivity to non-native speech in a diverse sample of bilinguals. Infant Behav Dev 2024; 76:101959. [PMID: 38781790 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2024.101959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2024] [Revised: 04/18/2024] [Accepted: 05/12/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
Werker and Tees (1984) prompted decades of research attempting to detail the paths infants take towards specialisation for the sounds of their native language(s). Most of this research has examined the trajectories of monolingual children. However, it has also been proposed that bilinguals, who are exposed to greater phonetic variability than monolinguals and must learn the rules of two languages, may remain perceptually open to non-native language sounds later into life than monolinguals. Using a visual habituation paradigm, the current study tests this question by comparing 15- to 18-month-old monolingual and bilingual children's developmental trajectories for non-native phonetic consonant contrast discrimination. A novel approach to the integration of stimulus presentation software with eye-tracking software was validated for objective measurement of infant looking time. The results did not support the hypothesis of a protracted period of sensitivity to non-native phonetic contrasts in bilingual compared to monolingual infants. Implications for diversification of perceptual narrowing research and implementation of increasingly sensitive measures are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria L Mousley
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, School of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom.
| | - Mairéad MacSweeney
- Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre, University College London, London WC1H 0PD, United Kingdom; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AZ, United Kingdom.
| | - Evelyne Mercure
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, School of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom; Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London SE14 6NW, United Kingdom.
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3
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Werker JF. Phonetic perceptual reorganization across the first year of life: Looking back. Infant Behav Dev 2024; 75:101935. [PMID: 38569416 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2024.101935] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2023] [Revised: 02/26/2024] [Accepted: 02/27/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
This paper provides a selective overview of some of the research that has followed from the publication of Werker and Tees (1984a) "Cross-language speech perception: Evidence for Perceptual Reorganization During the First Year of Life." Specifically, I briefly present the original finding, our interpretation of its meaning, and some key replications and extensions. I then review some of the work that has followed, including work with different kinds of populations, different kinds of speech sound contrasts, as well as attunement (perceptual reorganization) to additional properties of language beyond phonetic contrasts. Included is the body of work that queries whether perceptual attunement is a critical period phenomenon. Potential learning mechanisms for how experience functions to guide phonetic perceptual development are also presented, as is work on the relation between speech perception and word learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janet F Werker
- Department of Psychology, The University of British Columbia, Canada.
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4
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Gorina-Careta N, Arenillas-Alcón S, Puertollano M, Mondéjar-Segovia A, Ijjou-Kadiri S, Costa-Faidella J, Gómez-Roig MD, Escera C. Exposure to bilingual or monolingual maternal speech during pregnancy affects the neurophysiological encoding of speech sounds in neonates differently. Front Hum Neurosci 2024; 18:1379660. [PMID: 38841122 PMCID: PMC11150635 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1379660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2024] [Accepted: 04/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Exposure to maternal speech during the prenatal period shapes speech perception and linguistic preferences, allowing neonates to recognize stories heard frequently in utero and demonstrating an enhanced preference for their mother's voice and native language. Yet, with a high prevalence of bilingualism worldwide, it remains an open question whether monolingual or bilingual maternal speech during pregnancy influence differently the fetus' neural mechanisms underlying speech sound encoding. Methods In the present study, the frequency-following response (FFR), an auditory evoked potential that reflects the complex spectrotemporal dynamics of speech sounds, was recorded to a two-vowel /oa/ stimulus in a sample of 129 healthy term neonates within 1 to 3 days after birth. Newborns were divided into two groups according to maternal language usage during the last trimester of gestation (monolingual; bilingual). Spectral amplitudes and spectral signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) at the stimulus fundamental (F0) and first formant (F1) frequencies of each vowel were, respectively, taken as measures of pitch and formant structure neural encoding. Results Our results reveal that while spectral amplitudes at F0 did not differ between groups, neonates from bilingual mothers exhibited a lower spectral SNR. Additionally, monolingually exposed neonates exhibited a higher spectral amplitude and SNR at F1 frequencies. Discussion We interpret our results under the consideration that bilingual maternal speech, as compared to monolingual, is characterized by a greater complexity in the speech sound signal, rendering newborns from bilingual mothers more sensitive to a wider range of speech frequencies without generating a particularly strong response at any of them. Our results contribute to an expanding body of research indicating the influence of prenatal experiences on language acquisition and underscore the necessity of including prenatal language exposure in developmental studies on language acquisition, a variable often overlooked yet capable of influencing research outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natàlia Gorina-Careta
- Brainlab – Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Departament de Psicologia Clinica i Psicobiologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Neurociènces, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Sonia Arenillas-Alcón
- Brainlab – Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Departament de Psicologia Clinica i Psicobiologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Neurociènces, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Marta Puertollano
- Brainlab – Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Departament de Psicologia Clinica i Psicobiologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Neurociènces, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Alejandro Mondéjar-Segovia
- Brainlab – Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Departament de Psicologia Clinica i Psicobiologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Neurociènces, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Siham Ijjou-Kadiri
- Brainlab – Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Departament de Psicologia Clinica i Psicobiologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Neurociènces, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jordi Costa-Faidella
- Brainlab – Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Departament de Psicologia Clinica i Psicobiologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Neurociènces, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
| | - María Dolores Gómez-Roig
- Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- BCNatal – Barcelona Center for Maternal Fetal and Neonatal Medicine (Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and Hospital Clínic), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Carles Escera
- Brainlab – Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Departament de Psicologia Clinica i Psicobiologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Neurociènces, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
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5
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Nematova S, Zinszer B, Jasinska KK. Exploring audiovisual speech perception in monolingual and bilingual children in Uzbekistan. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 239:105808. [PMID: 37972516 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2023] [Revised: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the development of audiovisual speech perception in monolingual Uzbek-speaking and bilingual Uzbek-Russian-speaking children, focusing on the impact of language experience on audiovisual speech perception and the role of visual phonetic (i.e., mouth movements corresponding to phonetic/lexical information) and temporal (i.e., timing of speech signals) cues. A total of 321 children aged 4 to 10 years in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, discriminated /ba/ and /da/ syllables across three conditions: auditory-only, audiovisual phonetic (i.e., sound accompanied by mouth movements), and audiovisual temporal (i.e., sound onset/offset accompanied by mouth opening/closing). Effects of modality (audiovisual phonetic, audiovisual temporal, or audio-only cues), age, group (monolingual or bilingual), and their interactions were tested using a Bayesian regression model. Overall, older participants performed better than younger participants. Participants performed better in the audiovisual phonetic modality compared with the auditory modality. However, no significant difference between monolingual and bilingual children was observed across all modalities. This finding stands in contrast to earlier studies. We attribute the contrasting findings of our study and the existing literature to the cross-linguistic similarity of the language pairs involved. When the languages spoken by bilinguals exhibit substantial linguistic similarity, there may be an increased necessity to disambiguate speech signals, leading to a greater reliance on audiovisual cues. The limited phonological similarity between Uzbek and Russian might have minimized bilinguals' need to rely on visual speech cues, contributing to the lack of group differences in our study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shakhlo Nematova
- Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
| | - Benjamin Zinszer
- Department of Psychology, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081, USA
| | - Kaja K Jasinska
- Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada
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6
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Baese-Berk MM, Chandrasekaran B, Roark CL. The nature of non-native speech sound representations. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2022; 152:3025. [PMID: 36456300 PMCID: PMC9671621 DOI: 10.1121/10.0015230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2022] [Revised: 10/20/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Most current theories and models of second language speech perception are grounded in the notion that learners acquire speech sound categories in their target language. In this paper, this classic idea in speech perception is revisited, given that clear evidence for formation of such categories is lacking in previous research. To understand the debate on the nature of speech sound representations in a second language, an operational definition of "category" is presented, and the issues of categorical perception and current theories of second language learning are reviewed. Following this, behavioral and neuroimaging evidence for and against acquisition of categorical representations is described. Finally, recommendations for future work are discussed. The paper concludes with a recommendation for integration of behavioral and neuroimaging work and theory in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Bharath Chandrasekaran
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA
| | - Casey L Roark
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA
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7
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Wang C, Flemming K, Cortiana G, Putkinen V, Lammert J, Rafat Y, Tao S, Joanisse MF. Chinese-English bilinguals are more sensitive to environmental sound perception than Spanish-English bilinguals through top-down cognitive mechanism. Biol Psychol 2022; 175:108449. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2022.108449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Revised: 10/24/2022] [Accepted: 10/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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8
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Germain N, Gonzalez-Barrero AM, Byers-Heinlein K. Gesture development in infancy: Effects of gender but not bilingualism. INFANCY 2022; 27:663-681. [PMID: 35416417 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2021] [Revised: 11/22/2021] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Gesture is an important communication tool that provides insight into infants' early language and cognitive development and predicts later language skills. While bilingual school-age children have been reported to gesture more than monolinguals, there is a lack of research examining gesture use in infants exposed to more than one language. In this preregistered study, we compared three groups of 14-month-old infants (N = 150) learning French and/or English: bilinguals (hearing a second language at least 25% of the time), exposed (hearing a second language 10%-24% of the time), and monolinguals (hearing one language 90% of the time or more). Parent-reported use of communicative gestures was gathered from the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). Results showed that the three language groups had similarly sized gesture repertoires, suggesting that language exposure did not affect gesture development at this age. However, a gender effect was found, where girls produced more types of gestures than boys. Overall, these results suggest that gender, but not language exposure, contributes to differences in gesture development in infancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathalie Germain
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Québec, Canada.,Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, Montreal, Québec, Canada
| | - Ana Maria Gonzalez-Barrero
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Québec, Canada.,Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, Montreal, Québec, Canada.,School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | - Krista Byers-Heinlein
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Québec, Canada.,Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, Montreal, Québec, Canada
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9
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Martin KC, Ketchabaw WT, Turkeltaub PE. Plasticity of the language system in children and adults. HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY 2022; 184:397-414. [PMID: 35034751 PMCID: PMC10149040 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-819410-2.00021-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
The language system is perhaps the most unique feature of the human brain's cognitive architecture. It has long been a quest of cognitive neuroscience to understand the neural components that contribute to the hierarchical pattern processing and advanced rule learning required for language. The most important goal of this research is to understand how language becomes impaired when these neural components malfunction or are lost to stroke, and ultimately how we might recover language abilities under these circumstances. Additionally, understanding how the language system develops and how it can reorganize in the face of brain injury or dysfunction could help us to understand brain plasticity in cognitive networks more broadly. In this chapter we will discuss the earliest features of language organization in infants, and how deviations in typical development can-but in some cases, do not-lead to disordered language. We will then survey findings from adult stroke and aphasia research on the potential for recovering language processing in both the remaining left hemisphere tissue and in the non-dominant right hemisphere. Altogether, we hope to present a clear picture of what is known about the capacity for plastic change in the neurobiology of the human language system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly C Martin
- Department of Neurology, Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States
| | - W Tyler Ketchabaw
- Department of Neurology, Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Peter E Turkeltaub
- Department of Neurology, Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States; Research Division, MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital, Washington, DC, United States.
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10
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Schott E, Mastroberardino M, Fourakis E, Lew-Williams C, Byers-Heinlein K. Fine-tuning language discrimination: Bilingual and monolingual infants' detection of language switching. INFANCY 2021; 26:1037-1056. [PMID: 34482624 PMCID: PMC8530864 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2020] [Revised: 06/13/2021] [Accepted: 07/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The ability to differentiate between two languages sets the stage for bilingual learning. Infants can discriminate languages when hearing long passages, but language switches often occur on short time scales with few cues to language identity. As bilingual infants begin learning sequences of sounds and words, how do they detect the dynamics of two languages? In two studies using the head-turn preference procedure, we investigated whether infants (n = 44) can discriminate languages at the level of individual words. In Study 1, bilingual and monolingual 8- to 12-month-olds were tested on their detection of single-word language switching in lists of words (e.g., "dog… lait [fr. milk]"). In Study 2, they were tested on language switching within sentences (e.g., "Do you like the lait?"). We found that infants were unable to detect language switching in lists of words, but the results were inconclusive about infants' ability to detect language switching within sentences. No differences were observed between bilinguals and monolinguals. Given that bilingual proficiency eventually requires detection of sound sequences across two languages, more research will be needed to conclusively understand when and how this skill emerges. Materials, data, and analysis scripts are available at https://osf.io/9dtwn/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esther Schott
- Concordia University
- Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music
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11
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Kalashnikova M, Carreiras M. Input quality and speech perception development in bilingual infants' first year of life. Child Dev 2021; 93:e32-e46. [PMID: 34668192 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13686] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Individual differences in infants' native phonological development have been linked to the quantity and quality of infant-directed speech (IDS). The effects of parental and infant bilingualism on this relation in 131 five- and nine-month-old monolingual and bilingual Spanish and Basque infants (72 male; 59 female; from white middle-class background) were investigated. Bilingualism did not affect the developmental trajectory of infants' native and non-native speech perception and the quality of maternal speech. In both language groups, vowel exaggeration in IDS was significantly related to speech perception skills for 9-month-olds (r = -.30), but not for 5-month-olds. This demonstrates that bilingual and monolingual caregivers provide their infants with speech input that assists their task of learning the phonological inventory of one or two languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina Kalashnikova
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, San Sebastian, Spain.,IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation of Science, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Manuel Carreiras
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, San Sebastian, Spain.,IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation of Science, Bilbao, Spain.,University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Leioa, Spain
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12
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Blanco B, Molnar M, Carreiras M, Collins-Jones LH, Vidal E, Cooper RJ, Caballero-Gaudes C. Group-level cortical functional connectivity patterns using fNIRS: assessing the effect of bilingualism in young infants. NEUROPHOTONICS 2021; 8:025011. [PMID: 34136588 PMCID: PMC8200331 DOI: 10.1117/1.nph.8.2.025011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2021] [Accepted: 05/25/2021] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Significance: Early monolingual versus bilingual experience induces adaptations in the development of linguistic and cognitive processes, and it modulates functional activation patterns during the first months of life. Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) is a convenient approach to study the functional organization of the infant brain. RSFC can be measured in infants during natural sleep, and it allows to simultaneously investigate various functional systems. Adaptations have been observed in RSFC due to a lifelong bilingual experience. Investigating whether bilingualism-induced adaptations in RSFC begin to emerge early in development has important implications for our understanding of how the infant brain's organization can be shaped by early environmental factors. Aims: We attempt to describe RSFC using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and to examine whether it adapts to early monolingual versus bilingual environments. We also present an fNIRS data preprocessing and analysis pipeline that can be used to reliably characterize RSFC in development and to reduce false positives and flawed results interpretations. Methods: We measured spontaneous hemodynamic brain activity in a large cohort ( N = 99 ) of 4-month-old monolingual and bilingual infants using fNIRS. We implemented group-level approaches based on independent component analysis to examine RSFC, while providing proper control for physiological confounds and multiple comparisons. Results: At the group level, we describe the functional organization of the 4-month-old infant brain in large-scale cortical networks. Unbiased group-level comparisons revealed no differences in RSFC between monolingual and bilingual infants at this age. Conclusions: High-quality fNIRS data provide a means to reliably describe RSFC patterns in the infant brain. The proposed group-level RSFC analyses allow to assess differences in RSFC across experimental conditions. An effect of early bilingual experience in RSFC was not observed, suggesting that adaptations might only emerge during explicit linguistic tasks, or at a later point in development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Borja Blanco
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain, and Language, Donostia/San Sebastián, Spain
- University College London, Biomedical Optics Research Laboratory, DOT-HUB, London, United Kingdom
| | - Monika Molnar
- University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Manuel Carreiras
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain, and Language, Donostia/San Sebastián, Spain
- Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Liam H. Collins-Jones
- University College London, Biomedical Optics Research Laboratory, DOT-HUB, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ernesto Vidal
- University College London, Biomedical Optics Research Laboratory, DOT-HUB, London, United Kingdom
| | - Robert J. Cooper
- University College London, Biomedical Optics Research Laboratory, DOT-HUB, London, United Kingdom
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13
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Sundara M, Ward N, Conboy B, Kuhl PK. Exposure to a second language in infancy alters speech production. BILINGUALISM (CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND) 2020; 23:1-14. [PMID: 33776544 PMCID: PMC7995492 DOI: 10.1017/s1366728919000853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
We evaluated the impact of exposure to a second language on infants' emerging speech production skills. We compared speech produced by three groups of 12-month-old infants while they interacted with interlocutors who spoke to them in Spanish and English: monolingual English-learning infants who had previously received 5 hours of exposure to a second language (Spanish), English- and Spanish-learning simultaneous bilinguals, and monolingual English-learning infants without any exposure to Spanish. Our results showed that the monolingual English-learning infants with short-term exposure to Spanish and the bilingual infants, but not the monolingual English-learning infants without exposure to Spanish, flexibly matched the prosody of their babbling to that of a Spanish- or English-speaking interlocutor. Our findings demonstrate the nature and extent of benefits for language learning from early exposure to two languages. We discuss the implications of these findings for language organization in infants learning two languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megha Sundara
- Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles
| | - Nancy Ward
- Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles
| | - Barbara Conboy
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Redlands
| | - Patricia K Kuhl
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington
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14
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Yu YH, Tessel C, Han X, Campanelli L, Vidal N, Gerometta J, Garrido-Nag K, Datta H, Shafer VL. Neural Indices of Vowel Discrimination in Monolingual and Bilingual Infants and Children. Ear Hear 2020; 40:1376-1390. [PMID: 31033699 PMCID: PMC6814506 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000726] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To examine maturation of neural discriminative responses to an English vowel contrast from infancy to 4 years of age and to determine how biological factors (age and sex) and an experiential factor (amount of Spanish versus English input) modulate neural discrimination of speech. DESIGN Event-related potential (ERP) mismatch responses (MMRs) were used as indices of discrimination of the American English vowels [ε] versus [I] in infants and children between 3 months and 47 months of age. A total of 168 longitudinal and cross-sectional data sets were collected from 98 children (Bilingual Spanish-English: 47 male and 31 female sessions; Monolingual English: 48 male and 42 female sessions). Language exposure and other language measures were collected. ERP responses were examined in an early time window (160 to 360 msec, early MMR [eMMR]) and late time window (400 to 600 msec, late MMR). RESULTS The eMMR became more negative with increasing age. Language experience and sex also influenced the amplitude of the eMMR. Specifically, bilingual children, especially bilingual females, showed more negative eMMR compared with monolingual children and with males. However, the subset of bilingual children with more exposure to English than Spanish compared with those with more exposure to Spanish than English (as reported by caretakers) showed similar amplitude of the eMMR to their monolingual peers. Age was the only factor that influenced the amplitude of the late MMR. More negative late MMR was observed in older children with no difference found between bilingual and monolingual groups. CONCLUSIONS Consistent with previous studies, our findings revealed that biological factors (age and sex) and language experience modulated the amplitude of the eMMR in young children. The early negative MMR is likely to be the mismatch negativity found in older children and adults. In contrast, the late MMR amplitude was influenced only by age and may be equivalent to the Nc in infants and to the late negativity observed in some auditory passive oddball designs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan H. Yu
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, St.
John’s University, Queens, NY, USA
| | - Carol Tessel
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Florida
Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA
| | - Xiaoxu Han
- Department of Computer and Information Science, Fordham
University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Luca Campanelli
- Ph.D. Program in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, The
Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
| | - Nancy Vidal
- Speech Communication Studies, Iona College, New Rochelle,
NY, USA
| | | | - Karen Garrido-Nag
- Hearing, Speech, Language Sciences, Gallaudet University,
Washington DC, USA
| | - Hia Datta
- Speech-Language Pathology, Molloy College, Rockville
Centre, NY, USA
| | - Valerie L. Shafer
- Ph.D. Program in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, The
Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
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15
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Larraza S, Molnar M, Samuel AG. Phonemic contrasts under construction? Evidence from Basque. INFANCY 2020; 25:304-318. [PMID: 32749062 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2019] [Revised: 01/24/2020] [Accepted: 02/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Attunement theories of speech perception development suggest that native-language exposure is one of the main factors shaping infants' phonemic discrimination capacity within the second half of their first year. Here, we focus on the role of acoustic-perceptual salience and language-specific experience by assessing the discrimination of acoustically subtle Basque sibilant contrasts. We used the infant-controlled version of the habituation procedure to assess discrimination in 6- to 7-month and 11- to 12-month-old infants who varied in their amount of exposure to Basque and Spanish. We observed no significant variation in the infants' discrimination behavior as a function of their linguistic experience. Infants in both age-groups exhibited poor discrimination, consistent with Basque adults finding these contrasts more difficult than some others. Our findings are in agreement with previous research showing that perceptual discrimination of subtle speech sound contrasts may follow a different developmental trajectory, where increased native-language exposure seems to be a requisite.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saioa Larraza
- University of the Basque Country, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.,BCBL. Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, San Sebastian, Spain
| | - Monika Molnar
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Arthur G Samuel
- BCBL. Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, San Sebastian, Spain.,IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain.,Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, New York, NY, USA
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16
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Unsworth S, Chondrogianni V, Skarabela B. Experiential Measures Can Be Used as a Proxy for Language Dominance in Bilingual Language Acquisition Research. Front Psychol 2018; 9:1809. [PMID: 30386273 PMCID: PMC6199388 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2018] [Accepted: 09/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Language dominance is a multidimensional construct comprising several distinct yet interrelated components, including language proficiency, exposure and use. The exact relation between these components remains unclear. Several studies have observed a (non-linear) relationship between bilingual children’s amount of exposure and absolute proficiency in each language, but our understanding of the relationship between language exposure and use and relative proficiency is limited. To address this question, we examined whether experiential-based measures of language dominance, operationalised here in the narrow sense of relative language proficiency, can provide an efficient alternative to the more labor-intensive performance-based measures often used in the literature. In earlier work, Unsworth (a) examined the relationship between relative proficiency and language exposure and use in a group of English–Dutch bilingual preschool children residing in the Netherlands. This study expands these findings by examining Dutch–English preschool children of the same age residing in the United Kingdom in order to cover the full dominance continuum. Participants were 35 simultaneous bilingual children (2;0–5;0) exposed to English and Dutch, 20 resident in the Netherlands and 15 in the United Kingdom. Relative amount of language exposure and use were estimated using a parental questionnaire. To obtain performance-based measures of language proficiency, children’s spontaneous speech was recorded during a half-hour play session in each language. The transcribed data were used to derive MLU (words), average length of the longest five utterances, the number of different verb and noun types. Single word vocabulary comprehension was assessed using standardized tests in both languages. Following Yip and Matthews (2006), relative proficiency was operationalised using differentials. In line with Unsworth (2016a), English-dominant children typically had less than approx. 35% exposure to Dutch and used Dutch less than approximately 30% of the time. Curve-fitting analyses revealed that non-linear models best fit the data. Logistic regression analyses showed that both exposure and use were good predictors of dominance group membership assigned using the same approach as Unsworth (2016a), that is, using SDs. Dominance groups derived independently using cluster analyses overlapped with the groups derived using SDs, confirming that relative amount of exposure and use can be used as a proxy for language dominance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharon Unsworth
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Vicky Chondrogianni
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Barbora Skarabela
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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17
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Bulgarelli F, Lebkuecher AL, Weiss DJ. Statistical Learning and Bilingualism. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch 2018; 49:740-753. [DOI: 10.1044/2018_lshss-stlt1-17-0139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2017] [Accepted: 03/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose
Over the last 2 decades, research on statistical learning has demonstrated its importance in supporting language development. Notably, most of the research to date has focused on monolingual populations (or has not reported the language background of participants). Several recent studies, however, have begun to focus on the impact of bilingualism on statistical learning. To date, the results have been quite mixed, with a handful of studies finding differences between monolinguals and bilinguals and several other studies reporting no differences. Thus, the purpose of this manuscript is to review the literature to date on how bilingualism impacts statistical learning abilities.
Method
We review the contemporary literature, organized by the age of participants and by task when relevant.
Conclusions
We note that there are many discrepant findings within this nascent field, although some trends have emerged. For instance, differences in performance may be attributed to factors such as age of acquisition. However, we note that the state of the field does not yet permit firm clinical recommendations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica Bulgarelli
- Department of Psychology and Program in Linguistics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
| | - Amy L. Lebkuecher
- Department of Psychology and Program in Linguistics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
| | - Daniel J. Weiss
- Department of Psychology and Program in Linguistics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
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Singh L, Fu CSL, Seet XH, Tong APY, Wang JL, Best CT. Developmental change in tone perception in Mandarin monolingual, English monolingual, and Mandarin-English bilingual infants: Divergences between monolingual and bilingual learners. J Exp Child Psychol 2018; 173:59-77. [PMID: 29677553 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2017] [Revised: 03/20/2018] [Accepted: 03/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Most languages use lexical tone to discriminate the meanings of words. There has been recent interest in tracking the development of tone categories during infancy. These studies have focused largely on monolingual infants learning either a tone language or a non-tone language. It remains to be seen how bilingual infants learning one tone language (e.g., Mandarin) and one non-tone language (e.g., English) discriminate tones. Here, we examined infants' discrimination of two Mandarin tones pairs: one salient and one subtle. Discrimination was investigated in three groups: Mandarin-English bilinguals, English monolinguals, and Mandarin monolinguals at 6 months and 9 months of age in a cross-sectional design. Results demonstrated relatively strong Mandarin tone discrimination in Mandarin monolinguals, with salient tone discrimination at 6 months and both salient and subtle tone discrimination at 9 months. English monolinguals discriminated neither contrast at 6 months but discriminated the salient contrast at 9 months. Surprisingly, there was no evidence for tone discrimination in Mandarin-English bilingual infants. In a second experiment, 12- and 13-month-old Mandarin-English bilingual and English monolingual infants were tested to determine whether bilinguals would demonstrate tone sensitivity at a later age. Results revealed a lack of tone sensitivity at 12 or 13 months in bilingual infants, yet English monolingual infants were sensitive to both salient and subtle Mandarin tone contrasts at 12 or 13 months. Our findings provide evidence for age-related convergence in Mandarin tone discrimination in English and Mandarin monolingual infants and for a distinct pattern of tone discrimination in bilingual infants. Theoretical implications for phonetic category acquisition are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leher Singh
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
| | - Charlene S L Fu
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore
| | - Xian Hui Seet
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore
| | - Ashley P Y Tong
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore
| | - Joelle L Wang
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore
| | - Catherine T Best
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
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Fabiano-Smith L, Cuzner SL. Initial consonant deletion in bilingual Spanish-English-speaking children with speech sound disorders. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2017; 32:392-410. [PMID: 28901779 PMCID: PMC6089217 DOI: 10.1080/02699206.2017.1367037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to utilize a theoretical model of bilingual speech sound production as a framework for analyzing the speech of bilingual children with speech sound disorders. In order to distinguish speech difference from speech disorder, we examined between-language interaction on initial consonant deletion, an error pattern found cross-linguistically in the speech of children with speech sound disorders. Thirteen monolingual English-speaking and bilingual Spanish-and English-speaking preschoolers with speech sound disorders were audio-recorded during a single word picture-naming task and their recordings were phonetically transcribed. Initial consonant deletion errors were examined both quantitatively and qualitatively. An analysis of cross-linguistic effects and an analysis of phonemic complexity were performed. Monolingual English-speaking children exhibited initial consonant deletion at a significantly lower rate than bilingual children in their Spanish productions; however, no other quantitative differences were found across groups or languages. Qualitative differences yielded between-language interaction in the error patterns of bilingual children. Phonemic complexity appeared to play a role in initial consonant deletion. Evidence from the speech of bilingual children with speech sound disorders supports analysing bilingual speech using a cross-linguistic framework. Both theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leah Fabiano-Smith
- a Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences , University of Arizona , Tucson , AZ
| | - Suzanne Lea Cuzner
- a Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences , University of Arizona , Tucson , AZ
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20
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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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21
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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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22
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Byers-Heinlein K. Bilingualism affects 9-month-old infants’ expectations about how words refer to kinds. Dev Sci 2016; 20. [DOI: 10.1111/desc.12486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2015] [Accepted: 07/12/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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23
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Abboub N, Nazzi T, Gervain J. Prosodic grouping at birth. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2016; 162:46-59. [PMID: 27567401 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2016.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2015] [Revised: 07/26/2016] [Accepted: 08/06/2016] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Experience with spoken language starts prenatally, as hearing becomes operational during the second half of gestation. While maternal tissues filter out many aspects of speech, they readily transmit speech prosody and rhythm. These properties of the speech signal then play a central role in early language acquisition. In this study, we ask how the newborn brain uses variation in duration, pitch and intensity (the three acoustic cues that carry prosodic information in speech) to group sounds. In four near-infrared spectroscopy studies (NIRS), we demonstrate that perceptual biases governing how sound sequences are perceived and organized are present in newborns from monolingual and bilingual language backgrounds. Importantly, however, these prosodic biases are present only for acoustic patterns found in the prosody of their native languages. These findings advance our understanding of how prenatal language experience lays the foundations for language development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nawal Abboub
- Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.
| | - Thierry Nazzi
- Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France; Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Judit Gervain
- Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France; Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, CNRS, Paris, France
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24
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Ferjan Ramírez N, Ramírez RR, Clarke M, Taulu S, Kuhl PK. Speech discrimination in 11‐month‐old bilingual and monolingual infants: a magnetoencephalography study. Dev Sci 2016; 20. [DOI: 10.1111/desc.12427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 131] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2015] [Accepted: 02/17/2016] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Rey R. Ramírez
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences University of Washington USA
| | - Maggie Clarke
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences University of Washington USA
| | - Samu Taulu
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences University of Washington USA
- Department of Physics University of Washington USA
| | - Patricia K. Kuhl
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences University of Washington USA
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences University of Washington USA
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25
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Bijeljac-Babic R, Höhle B, Nazzi T. Early Prosodic Acquisition in Bilingual Infants: The Case of the Perceptual Trochaic Bias. Front Psychol 2016; 7:210. [PMID: 26941680 PMCID: PMC4763045 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2015] [Accepted: 02/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Infants start learning the prosodic properties of their native language before 12 months, as shown by the emergence of a trochaic bias in English-learning infants between 6 and 9 months (Jusczyk et al., 1993), and in German-learning infants between 4 and 6 months (Höhle et al., 2009, 2014), while French-learning infants do not show a bias at 6 months (Höhle et al., 2009). This language-specific emergence of a trochaic bias is supported by the fact that English and German are languages with trochaic predominance in their lexicons, while French is a language with phrase-final lengthening but lacking lexical stress. We explored the emergence of a trochaic bias in bilingual French/German infants, to study whether the developmental trajectory would be similar to monolingual infants and whether amount of relative exposure to the two languages has an impact on the emergence of the bias. Accordingly, we replicated Höhle et al. (2009) with 24 bilingual 6-month-olds learning French and German simultaneously. All infants had been exposed to both languages for 30 to 70% of the time from birth. Using the Head Preference Procedure, infants were presented with two lists of stimuli, one made up of several occurrences of the pseudoword /GAba/ with word-initial stress (trochaic pattern), the second one made up of several occurrences of the pseudoword /gaBA/ with word-final stress (iambic pattern). The stimuli were recorded by a native German female speaker. Results revealed that these French/German bilingual 6-month-olds have a trochaic bias (as evidenced by a preference to listen to the trochaic pattern). Hence, their listening preference is comparable to that of monolingual German-learning 6-month-olds, but differs from that of monolingual French-learning 6-month-olds who did not show any preference (Höhle et al., 2009). Moreover, the size of the trochaic bias in the bilingual infants was not correlated with their amount of exposure to German. The present results thus establish that the development of a trochaic bias in simultaneous bilinguals is not delayed compared to monolingual German-learning infants (Höhle et al., 2009) and is rather independent of the amount of exposure to German relative to French.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ranka Bijeljac-Babic
- Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris Descartes – CNRSParis, France
- Université de PoitiersPoitiers, France
| | | | - Thierry Nazzi
- Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris Descartes – CNRSParis, France
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Hammer CS, Hoff E, Uchikoshi Y, Gillanders C, Castro D, Sandilos LE. The Language and Literacy Development of Young Dual Language Learners: A Critical Review. EARLY CHILDHOOD RESEARCH QUARTERLY 2015; 29:715-733. [PMID: 25878395 PMCID: PMC4394382 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
The number of children living in the United States who are learning two languages is increasing greatly. However, relatively little research has been conducted on the language and literacy development of dual language learners (DLLs), particularly during the early childhood years. To summarize the extant literature and guide future research, a critical analysis of the literature was conducted. A search of major databases for studies on young typically developing DLLs between 2000-2011 yielded 182 peer-reviewed articles. Findings about DLL children's developmental trajectories in the various areas of language and literacy are presented. Much of these findings should be considered preliminary, because there were few areas where multiple studies were conducted. Conclusions were reached when sufficient evidence existed in a particular area. First, the research shows that DLLs have two separate language systems early in life. Second, differences in some areas of language development, such as vocabulary, appear to exist among DLLs depending on when they were first exposed to their second language. Third, DLLs' language and literacy development may differ from that of monolinguals, although DLLs appear to catch up over time. Fourth, little is known about factors that influence DLLs' development, although the amount of language exposure to and usage of DLLs' two languages appears to play key roles. Methodological issues are addressed, and directions for future research are discussed.
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Pons F, Bosch L, Lewkowicz DJ. Bilingualism modulates infants' selective attention to the mouth of a talking face. Psychol Sci 2015; 26:490-8. [PMID: 25767208 PMCID: PMC4398611 DOI: 10.1177/0956797614568320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 106] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2014] [Accepted: 12/23/2014] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Infants growing up in bilingual environments succeed at learning two languages. What adaptive processes enable them to master the more complex nature of bilingual input? One possibility is that bilingual infants take greater advantage of the redundancy of the audiovisual speech that they usually experience during social interactions. Thus, we investigated whether bilingual infants' need to keep languages apart increases their attention to the mouth as a source of redundant and reliable speech cues. We measured selective attention to talking faces in 4-, 8-, and 12-month-old Catalan and Spanish monolingual and bilingual infants. Monolinguals looked more at the eyes than the mouth at 4 months and more at the mouth than the eyes at 8 months in response to both native and nonnative speech, but they looked more at the mouth than the eyes at 12 months only in response to nonnative speech. In contrast, bilinguals looked equally at the eyes and mouth at 4 months, more at the mouth than the eyes at 8 months, and more at the mouth than the eyes at 12 months, and these patterns of responses were found for both native and nonnative speech at all ages. Thus, to support their dual-language acquisition processes, bilingual infants exploit the greater perceptual salience of redundant audiovisual speech cues at an earlier age and for a longer time than monolingual infants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ferran Pons
- Department of Basic Psychology, Universitat de Barcelona Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (IR3C), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Laura Bosch
- Department of Basic Psychology, Universitat de Barcelona Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (IR3C), Barcelona, Spain
| | - David J Lewkowicz
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northeastern University
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Archila-Suerte P, Zevin J, Hernandez AE. The effect of age of acquisition, socioeducational status, and proficiency on the neural processing of second language speech sounds. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2015; 141:35-49. [PMID: 25528287 PMCID: PMC5956909 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2014.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2013] [Revised: 11/06/2014] [Accepted: 11/09/2014] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
This study investigates the role of age of acquisition (AoA), socioeducational status (SES), and second language (L2) proficiency on the neural processing of L2 speech sounds. In a task of pre-attentive listening and passive viewing, Spanish-English bilinguals and a control group of English monolinguals listened to English syllables while watching a film of natural scenery. Eight regions of interest were selected from brain areas involved in speech perception and executive processes. The regions of interest were examined in 2 separate two-way ANOVA (AoA×SES; AoA×L2 proficiency). The results showed that AoA was the main variable affecting the neural response in L2 speech processing. Direct comparisons between AoA groups of equivalent SES and proficiency level enhanced the intensity and magnitude of the results. These results suggest that AoA, more than SES and proficiency level, determines which brain regions are recruited for the processing of second language speech sounds.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jason Zevin
- Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 1300 York Ave., Box 140, NY, NY 10065, United States.
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30
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Bilingual exposure influences infant VOT perception. Infant Behav Dev 2015; 38:27-36. [DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2014.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2014] [Revised: 08/26/2014] [Accepted: 12/11/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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31
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Abstract
A continuing debate in language acquisition research is whether there are critical periods (CPs) in development during which the system is most responsive to environmental input. Recent advances in neurobiology provide a mechanistic explanation of CPs, with the balance between excitatory and inhibitory processes establishing the onset and molecular brakes establishing the offset of windows of plasticity. In this article, we review the literature on human speech perception development within the context of this CP model, highlighting research that reveals the interplay of maturational and experiential influences at key junctures in development and presenting paradigmatic examples testing CP models in human subjects. We conclude with a discussion of how a mechanistic understanding of CP processes changes the nature of the debate: The question no longer is, "Are there CPs?" but rather what processes open them, keep them open, close them, and allow them to be reopened.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janet F Werker
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada;
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33
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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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34
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McCarthy KM, Mahon M, Rosen S, Evans BG. Speech perception and production by sequential bilingual children: a longitudinal study of voice onset time acquisition. Child Dev 2014; 85:1965-80. [PMID: 25123987 PMCID: PMC4282029 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The majority of bilingual speech research has focused on simultaneous bilinguals. Yet, in immigrant communities, children are often initially exposed to their family language (L1), before becoming gradually immersed in the host country's language (L2). This is typically referred to as sequential bilingualism. Using a longitudinal design, this study explored the perception and production of the English voicing contrast in 55 children (40 Sylheti-English sequential bilinguals and 15 English monolinguals). Children were tested twice: when they were in nursery (52-month-olds) and 1 year later. Sequential bilinguals' perception and production of English plosives were initially driven by their experience with their L1, but after starting school, changed to match that of their monolingual peers.
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35
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Abstract
The ability to speak two languages often marvels monolinguals, although bilinguals report no difficulties in achieving this feat. Here, we examine how learning and using two languages affect language acquisition and processing as well as various aspects of cognition. We do so by addressing three main questions. First, how do infants who are exposed to two languages acquire them without apparent difficulty? Second, how does language processing differ between monolingual and bilingual adults? Last, what are the collateral effects of bilingualism on the executive control system across the lifespan? Research in all three areas has not only provided some fascinating insights into bilingualism but also revealed new issues related to brain plasticity and language learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Albert Costa
- 1] Center for Brain and Cognition, Department of Technology, Pompeu Fabra University, 08018 Barcelona, Spain. [2] ICREA (Institució Catalana de Recerca I Estudis Avançats), Passeig Lluís Companys, 23; 08010 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Núria Sebastián-Gallés
- Center for Brain and Cognition, Department of Technology, Pompeu Fabra University, 08018 Barcelona, Spain
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36
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37
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Maurer D, Werker JF. Perceptual narrowing during infancy: A comparison of language and faces. Dev Psychobiol 2013; 56:154-78. [PMID: 24519366 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 151] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2013] [Accepted: 09/30/2013] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Daphne Maurer
- Department of Psychology; McMaster University; 1280 Main Street West Hamilton Ontario L8S 4K1 Canada
| | - Janet F. Werker
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia; 2136 West Mall Vancouver British Columbia V6T 1Z4 Canada
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38
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Byers-Heinlein K, Fennell CT. Perceptual narrowing in the context of increased variation: Insights from bilingual infants. Dev Psychobiol 2013; 56:274-91. [PMID: 24114364 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2013] [Accepted: 08/12/2013] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Human infants become native-language listeners through a process of perceptual narrowing. Monolingual infants are initially sensitive to a wide range of language-relevant contrasts. However, as they mature and gain native-language experience, their sensitivity to nonnative contrasts declines. Here, we consider the case of infants growing up bilingual as a window into how increased variation affects early perceptual development. These infants encounter different meaningful contrasts in each of their languages, and must also attend to contrasts that occur between their languages. Bilingual infants share many classic developmental patterns with monolinguals. However, they also show unique developmental patterns in the perception of native distinctions such as U-shaped trajectories and dose-response relationships, and show some enhanced sensitivity to nonnative distinctions. Analogous developmental patterns can be observed in individuals exposed to two nonlinguistic systems in domains such as music and face perception. Some preliminary evidence suggests that bilingual individuals might retain more sensitivity to nonnative contrasts, reaching a less narrow end state than monolinguals. Nevertheless, bilingual infants do become perceptually specialized native listeners to both of their languages, despite increased variation and differing patterns of perceptual development in comparison to monolinguals.
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39
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Singh L. One world, two languages: cross-language semantic priming in bilingual toddlers. Child Dev 2013; 85:755-66. [PMID: 23802779 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The interconnectedness of bilingual memory remains a topic of great debate. Semantic priming provides a powerful methodological tool with which to investigate this issue in early bilingual toddlers. Semantic priming effects were investigated in 21 bilingual toddlers (2.5 years) within and across each of their languages. Results revealed the first evidence of cross-language and within-language semantic priming in bilingual toddlers. However, priming effects were only observed when the prime was presented in the dominant language and were comparable in magnitude within and across languages. Findings point to high interconnectivity across languages; however, there appear to be strong influences of language dominance on semantic facilitation. Findings serve to inform and refine developmental models of bilingual memory.
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40
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Archila-Suerte P, Zevin J, Ramos AI, Hernandez AE. The neural basis of non-native speech perception in bilingual children. Neuroimage 2013; 67:51-63. [PMID: 23123633 PMCID: PMC5942220 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.10.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2012] [Revised: 09/17/2012] [Accepted: 10/15/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The goal of the present study is to reveal how the neural mechanisms underlying non-native speech perception change throughout childhood. In a pre-attentive listening fMRI task, English monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual children - divided into groups of younger (6-8yrs) and older children (9-10yrs) - were asked to watch a silent movie while several English syllable combinations played through a pair of headphones. Two additional groups of monolingual and bilingual adults were included in the analyses. Our results show that the neural mechanisms supporting speech perception throughout development differ in monolinguals and bilinguals. While monolinguals recruit perceptual areas (i.e., superior temporal gyrus) in early and late childhood to process native speech, bilinguals recruit perceptual areas (i.e., superior temporal gyrus) in early childhood and higher-order executive areas in late childhood (i.e., bilateral middle frontal gyrus and bilateral inferior parietal lobule, among others) to process non-native speech. The findings support the Perceptual Assimilation Model and the Speech Learning Model and suggest that the neural system processes phonological information differently depending on the stage of L2 speech learning.
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41
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Shafer VL, Yu YH, Garrido-Nag K. Neural mismatch indices of vowel discrimination in monolingually and bilingually exposed infants: does attention matter? Neurosci Lett 2012; 526:10-4. [PMID: 22897876 PMCID: PMC3454447 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2012.07.064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2012] [Revised: 07/27/2012] [Accepted: 07/30/2012] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Neurophysiological studies of infant speech suggest that mismatch responses (MMRs) have predictive value for later language. Their value, however, is diminished because unexplained differences in the MMR patterns are seen across studies. The current study aimed to identify the functional nature of infant MMRs by recording event-related-potentials (ERPs) to an infrequent English vowel change in internal or final positions of a sequence of ten vowels in six-month-old monolingually and bilingually exposed infants. Increased negativity of the MMR (infrequent minus frequent) was found in final compared to internal positions and correlated with an index of increased attention to the final position. This pattern helps explain the overall greater negativity to the speech sounds in the bilingually exposed female infants. These findings substantially advance our understanding of neural indices of speech perception development and show promise for furthering our understanding of bilingual language development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valerie L Shafer
- The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, United States.
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42
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Von Holzen K, Mani N. Language nonselective lexical access in bilingual toddlers. J Exp Child Psychol 2012; 113:569-86. [PMID: 22980955 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2012.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2012] [Revised: 08/01/2012] [Accepted: 08/02/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
We examined how words from bilingual toddlers' second language (L2) primed recognition of related target words in their first language (L1). On critical trials, prime-target word pairs were either (a) phonologically related, with L2 primes overlapped phonologically with L1 target words [e.g., slide (L2 prime)-Kleid (L1 target, "dress")], or (b) phonologically related through translation, with L1 translations of L2 primes rhymed with the L1 target words [e.g., leg (L2 prime, L1 translation, "Bein")-Stein (L1 target, "stone"). Evidence of facilitated target recognition in the phonological priming condition suggests language nonselective access but not necessarily lexical access. However, a late interference effect on target recognition in the phonological priming through translation condition provides evidence for language nonselective lexical access: The L2 prime (leg) could influence L1 target recognition (Stein) in this condition only if both the L2 prime (leg) and its L1 translation ("Bein") were concurrently activated. In addition, age- and gender-matched monolingual toddler controls showed no difference between conditions, providing further evidence that the results with bilingual toddlers were driven by cross-language activation. The current study, therefore, presents the first-ever evidence of cross-talk between the two languages of bilinguals even as they begin to acquire fluency in their second language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katie Von Holzen
- Junior Research Group in Language Acquisition, Georg Elias Müller Institute of Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
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43
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Abstract
Infants are prepared by biology to acquire language, but it is the native language(s) they must learn. Over the first weeks and months of life, infants learn about the sounds and sights of their native language, and use that perceptual knowledge to pull out words and bootstrap grammar. In this paper, I review research showing that infants growing up bilingual learn the properties of each of the their two languages simultaneously, while nonetheless keeping them apart. Thus, they use perceptual learning to break into the properties of each of the two native languages. While the fundamental process of language acquisition is the same whether one or two languages are being acquired, cognitive advantages accrue from the task of language separation, and processing costs accrue from the more minimal input received in each of the two languages. I conclude by suggesting that when there are sufficient cues to which language is being used, the cognitive advantages that accrue from language separation enable the bilingual infant to move forward in language acquisition even in the face of processing costs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janet Werker
- University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
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44
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Singh L, Foong J. Influences of lexical tone and pitch on word recognition in bilingual infants. Cognition 2012; 124:128-42. [PMID: 22682766 PMCID: PMC3390932 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2012.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2011] [Revised: 05/14/2012] [Accepted: 05/15/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Infants' abilities to discriminate native and non-native phonemes have been extensively investigated in monolingual learners, demonstrating a transition from language-general to language-specific sensitivities over the first year after birth. However, these studies have mostly been limited to the study of vowels and consonants in monolingual learners. There is relatively little research on other types of phonetic segments, such as lexical tone, even though tone languages are very well represented across languages of the world. The goal of the present study is to investigate how Mandarin Chinese-English bilingual learners contend with non-phonemic pitch variation in English spoken word recognition. This is contrasted with their treatment of phonemic changes in lexical tone in Mandarin spoken word recognition. The experimental design was cross-sectional and three age-groups were sampled (7.5months, 9months and 11months). Results demonstrated limited generalization abilities at 7.5months, where infants only recognized words in English when matched in pitch and words in Mandarin that were matched in tone. At 9months, infants recognized words in Mandarin Chinese that matched in tone, but also falsely recognized words that contrasted in tone. At this age, infants also recognized English words whether they were matched or mismatched in pitch. By 11months, infants correctly recognized pitch-matched and - mismatched words in English but only recognized tonal matches in Mandarin Chinese.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leher Singh
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
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45
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Albareda-Castellot B, Pons F, Sebastián-Gallés N. The acquisition of phonetic categories in bilingual infants: new data from an anticipatory eye movement paradigm. Dev Sci 2012; 14:395-401. [PMID: 22213908 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2010.00989.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Contrasting results have been reported regarding the phonetic acquisition of bilinguals. A lack of discrimination has been observed for certain native contrasts in 8-month-old Catalan-Spanish bilingual infants (Bosch & Sebastián-Gallés, 2003a), though not in French-English bilingual infants (Burns, Yoshida, Hill & Werker, 2007; Sundara, Polka & Molnar, 2008). At present, the data for Catalan-Spanish bilinguals constitute an exception in the early language acquisition literature. This study contributes new findings that show that Catalan-Spanish bilingual infants do not lose the capacity to discriminate native contrasts. We used an adaptation of the anticipatory eye movement paradigm (AEM; McMurray & Aslin, 2004) to explore this question. In two experiments we tested the ability of infants from Catalan and Spanish monolingual families and from Catalan-Spanish bilingual families to discriminate a Spanish-Catalan common and a Catalan-specific vowel contrast. Results from both experiments revealed that Catalan-Spanish bilingual infants showed the same discrimination abilities as those shown by their monolingual peers, even in a phonetic contrast that had not been discriminated in previous studies. Our results demonstrate that discrimination can be observed in 8-month-old bilingual infants when tested with a measure not based on recovery of attention. The high ratio of cognates in Spanish and Catalan may underlie the reason why bilinguals failed to discriminate the native vowels when tested with the familiarization-preference procedure but succeeded with the AEM paradigm.
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46
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Conboy BT, Kuhl PK. Impact of second-language experience in infancy: brain measures of first- and second-language speech perception. Dev Sci 2012; 14:242-8. [PMID: 21499512 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2010.00973.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Language experience 'narrows' speech perception by the end of infants' first year, reducing discrimination of non-native phoneme contrasts while improving native-contrast discrimination. Previous research showed that declines in non-native discrimination were reversed by second-language experience provided at 9-10 months, but it is not known whether second-language experience affects first-language speech sound processing. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we examined learning-related changes in brain activity to Spanish and English phoneme contrasts in monolingual English-learning infants pre- and post-exposure to Spanish from 9.5-10.5 months of age. Infants showed a significant discriminatory ERP response to the Spanish contrast at 11 months (post-exposure), but not at 9 months (pre-exposure). The English contrast elicited an earlier discriminatory response at 11 months than at 9 months, suggesting improvement in native-language processing. The results show that infants rapidly encode new phonetic information, and that improvement in native speech processing can occur during second-language learning in infancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara T Conboy
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7988, USA.
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47
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Petitto LA, Berens MS, Kovelman I, Dubins MH, Jasinska K, Shalinsky M. The "Perceptual Wedge Hypothesis" as the basis for bilingual babies' phonetic processing advantage: new insights from fNIRS brain imaging. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2012; 121:130-43. [PMID: 21724244 PMCID: PMC3192234 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2011.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 94] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2010] [Revised: 04/21/2011] [Accepted: 05/16/2011] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
In a neuroimaging study focusing on young bilinguals, we explored the brains of bilingual and monolingual babies across two age groups (younger 4-6 months, older 10-12 months), using fNIRS in a new event-related design, as babies processed linguistic phonetic (Native English, Non-Native Hindi) and non-linguistic Tone stimuli. We found that phonetic processing in bilingual and monolingual babies is accomplished with the same language-specific brain areas classically observed in adults, including the left superior temporal gyrus (associated with phonetic processing) and the left inferior frontal cortex (associated with the search and retrieval of information about meanings, and syntactic and phonological patterning), with intriguing developmental timing differences: left superior temporal gyrus activation was observed early and remained stably active over time, while left inferior frontal cortex showed greater increase in neural activation in older babies notably at the precise age when babies' enter the universal first-word milestone, thus revealing a first-time focal brain correlate that may mediate a universal behavioral milestone in early human language acquisition. A difference was observed in the older bilingual babies' resilient neural and behavioral sensitivity to Non-Native phonetic contrasts at a time when monolingual babies can no longer make such discriminations. We advance the "Perceptual Wedge Hypothesis" as one possible explanation for how exposure to greater than one language may alter neural and language processing in ways that we suggest are advantageous to language users. The brains of bilinguals and multilinguals may provide the most powerful window into the full neural "extent and variability" that our human species' language processing brain areas could potentially achieve.
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Affiliation(s)
- L A Petitto
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada.
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48
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Pons F, Albareda-Castellot B, Sebastián-Gallés N. The interplay between input and initial biases: asymmetries in vowel perception during the first year of life. Child Dev 2012; 83:965-76. [PMID: 22364434 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01740.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Vowels with extreme articulatory-acoustic properties act as natural referents. Infant perceptual asymmetries point to an underlying bias favoring these referent vowels. However, as language experience is gathered, distributional frequency of speech sounds could modify this initial bias. The perception of the /i/-/e/ contrast was explored in 144 Catalan- and Spanish-learning infants (2 languages with a different distribution of vowel frequency of occurrence) at 4, 6, and 12 months. The results confirmed an acoustic bias at 4 and 6 months in all infants. However, at 12 months, discrimination was not affected by the acoustic bias but by the frequency of occurrence of the vowel.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ferran Pons
- Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (IR3C), and Universitat de Barcelona, Departament de Psicologia Bàsica, Facultat de Psicologia, Barcelona, Spain.
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Bijeljac-Babic R, Serres J, Höhle B, Nazzi T. Effect of bilingualism on lexical stress pattern discrimination in French-learning infants. PLoS One 2012; 7:e30843. [PMID: 22363500 PMCID: PMC3281880 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030843] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2011] [Accepted: 12/23/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Monolingual infants start learning the prosodic properties of their native language around 6 to 9 months of age, a fact marked by the development of preferences for predominant prosodic patterns and a decrease in sensitivity to non-native prosodic properties. The present study evaluates the effects of bilingual acquisition on speech perception by exploring how stress pattern perception may differ in French-learning 10-month-olds raised in bilingual as opposed to monolingual environments. Experiment 1 shows that monolinguals can discriminate stress patterns following a long familiarization to one of two patterns, but not after a short familiarization. In Experiment 2, two subgroups of bilingual infants growing up learning both French and another language (varying across infants) in which stress is used lexically were tested under the more difficult short familiarization condition: one with balanced input, and one receiving more input in the language other than French. Discrimination was clearly found for the other-language-dominant subgroup, establishing heightened sensitivity to stress pattern contrasts in these bilinguals as compared to monolinguals. However, the balanced bilinguals' performance was not better than that of monolinguals, establishing an effect of the relative balance of the language input. This pattern of results is compatible with the proposal that sensitivity to prosodic contrasts is maintained or enhanced in a bilingual population compared to a monolingual population in which these contrasts are non-native, provided that this dimension is used in one of the two languages in acquisition, and that infants receive enough input from that language.
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50
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Shafer VL, Yu YH, Datta H. The Development of English Vowel Perception in Monolingual and Bilingual Infants: Neurophysiological Correlates. JOURNAL OF PHONETICS 2011; 39:527-545. [PMID: 22046059 PMCID: PMC3201800 DOI: 10.1016/j.wocn.2010.11.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
The goal of this paper was to examine intrinsic and extrinsic factors contributing to the development of speech perception in monolingual and bilingual infants and toddlers. A substantial number of behavioral studies have characterized when infants show changes in behavior towards speech sounds in relation to amount of experience with these sounds. However, these studies cannot explain to what extent the developmental timeline is influenced by experience with the language versus constraints imposed by cortical maturation. Studies using electrophysiological measures to examine the development of auditory and speech processing have shown great differences in infant and adult electrophysiological correlates of processing. Many of these differences are a function of immature cortex in the infant. In this paper, we examined the maturation of infant and child event-related-potential (ERP) electrophysiological components in processing an English vowel contrast and explored to what extent these components are influenced by intrinsic (e.g., sex) versus extrinsic factors, such as language experience (monolingual vs. bilingual). Our findings demonstrate differences in the pattern of ERP responses related to age and sex, as well as language experience. These differences make it clear that general maturational factors need to be taken into consideration in examining the effect of language experience on the neurodevelopment of speech perception.
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