scholarly journals Mommy and Me

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 298-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Bortfeld ◽  
James L. Morgan ◽  
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff ◽  
Karen Rathbun
Keyword(s):  
Speech Code ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Head Turn ◽  
Fluent Speech ◽  
Speech Stream ◽  
Young Infants

How do infants find the words in the tangle of speech that confronts them? The present study shows that by as early as 6 months of age, infants can already exploit highly familiar words—including, but not limited to, their own names—to segment and recognize adjoining, previously unfamiliar words from fluent speech. The head-turn preference procedure was used to familiarize babies with short passages in which a novel word was preceded by a familiar or a novel name. At test, babies recognized the word that followed the familiar name, but not the word that followed the novel name. This is the youngest age at which infants have been shown capable of segmenting fluent speech. Young infants have a powerful aid available to them for cracking the speech code. Their emerging familiarity with particular words, such as their own and other people's names, can provide initial anchors in the speech stream.

Reaching for an object or that object: Context and limitations in encoding object features may constrain infant goal attribution

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Robson ◽  
Valerie A. Kuhlmeier
Keyword(s):  
Object Perception ◽  
Target Object ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Novel Object ◽  
Young Infants ◽  
Action Processing ◽  
Directed Action ◽  
Feature Information ◽  
Goal Attribution ◽  
Object Features

That very young infants attribute goals to the object-directed reaches of others is well characterized, but we understand little of what infants encode about the objects being acted on. The present study examined whether the context surrounding the reach, specifically the presence of another object, prompts infants to encode feature information of the target object. To test this, 9-month-old infants in Experiment 1 observed an actor repeatedly reach for one of two objects, while in Experiment 2, infants observed repeated reaches towards one, singly presented object. In both experiments, following habituation, infants observed the actor reach for either the same object as in the past, or a previously unseen, novel object. In Experiment 1, but not Experiment 2, infants looked longer at reaches to the novel object, indicating that this action was unexpected. Considered along with research on visual attention and infant object perception, these results suggest that the initial presence of an alternative object influenced infants’ expectations for future reaches, perhaps by prompting infants to create a feature-bound representation of the target. Thus, the context surrounding a goal-directed action may flexibly influence infants’ action processing to minimize cognitive load.

A Sex Difference in Mental Rotation in Young Infants

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 1067-1070 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C. Quinn ◽  
Lynn S. Liben
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Sex Difference ◽  
Mirror Image ◽  
Familiar Stimulus ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Novelty Preference ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Young Infants

Three- to 4-month-old female and male human infants were administered a two-dimensional mental-rotation task similar to those given to older children and adults. Infants were familiarized with the number 1 (or its mirror image) in seven different rotations between 0° and 360°, and then preference-tested with a novel rotation of the familiar stimulus paired with its mirror image. Male infants displayed a novelty preference for the mirror-image stimulus over the novel rotation of the familiar stimulus, whereas females divided attention between the two test stimuli. The results point toward an early emergence of a sex difference in mental rotation.

Effects of Prior Phonotactic Knowledge on Infant Word Segmentation: The Case of Nonadjacent Dependencies

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 840-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nayeli Gonzalez-Gomez ◽  
Thierry Nazzi
Keyword(s):  
Target Word ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Word Segmentation ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
The Other ◽  
Head Turn ◽  
Fluent Speech ◽  
Word Lists ◽  
Nonadjacent Dependencies ◽  
New Evidence

Purpose In this study, the authors explored whether French-learning infants use nonadjacent phonotactic regularities in their native language, which they learn between the ages of 7 and 10 months, to segment words from fluent speech. Method Two groups of 20 French-learning infants were tested using the head-turn preference procedure at 10 and 13 months of age. In Experiment 1, infants were familiarized with 2 passages: 1 containing a target word with a frequent nonadjacent phonotactic structure and the other containing a target word with an infrequent nonadjacent phonotactic structure in French. During the test phase, infants were presented with 4 word lists: 2 containing the target words presented during familiarization and 2 other control words with the same phonotactic structure. In Experiment 2, the authors retested infants' ability to segment words with the infrequent phonotactic structure. Results Ten- and 13-month-olds were able to segment words with the frequent phonotactic structure, but it is only by 13 months, and only under the circumstances of Experiment 2, that infants could segment words with the infrequent phonotactic structure. Conclusion These results provide new evidence showing that infant word segmentation is influenced by prior nonadjacent phonotactic knowledge.

scholarly journals Nonverbal action interpretation guides novel word disambiguation in 12-month-olds

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Pomiechowska ◽  
Gergely Csibra
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
New Words ◽  
Young Infants ◽  
Pragmatic Information ◽  
Distractor Object ◽  
Instrumental Action ◽  
Novel Words

Whether young infants can exploit socio-pragmatic information to interpret new words is a matter of debate. Based on findings and theories from the action interpretation literature, we hypothesized that 12-month-olds should distinguish communicative object-directed actions expressing reference from instrumental object-directed actions indicative of one’s goals, and selectively use the former to identify referents of novel linguistic expressions. This hypothesis was tested across four eye-tracking experiments. Infants watched pairs of unfamiliar objects, one of which was first targeted by either a communicative action (e.g., pointing) or an instrumental action (e.g., grasping) and then labeled with a novel word. As predicted, infants fast-mapped the novel words onto the targeted objects after pointing (Experiments 1 and 4) but not after grasping (Experiment 2) unless the grasping action was preceded by an ostensive signal (Experiment 3). Moreover, whenever infants mapped a novel word onto the object indicated by a communicative action, they tended to map a different novel word onto the distractor object, displaying a mutual exclusivity effect. This reliance on nonverbal action interpretation in the disambiguation of novel words indicates that socio-pragmatic inferences about reference likely supplement associative and statistical learning mechanisms from the outset of word learning.

Oral Touch in Young Infants: Response to Variations of Nipple Characteristics in the First Months of Life

1983 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Rochat
Keyword(s):  
Differential Response ◽  
Developmental Trend ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Relevant Stimulus ◽  
Global Shape ◽  
Stimulus Characteristic ◽  
Young Infants ◽  
Double Function ◽  
Novel Material

Newborns, and one, and four month olders, were presented for 90 sec with nipples varying in shape and in shape plus material. Pressure variations applied by the infant to the nipples were recorded. Overall activity as well as sucking and exploratory patterns of response were studied by observation of the polygraph records. Results suggest that a developmental trend exists, showing an increase in oral exploration and a decrease in sucking. Further, this age trend is influenced by the type of nipple. For the younger infants the addition of the novel material appears to be the basis of a differential response. For the older infants, global shape appears to be a relevant stimulus characteristic. These findings support the contention that there is a double function of the mouth: nutritive as well as perceptual. The tactual capacity revealed here is present within the first months of life and evolves relative to certain stimulus characteristics.

scholarly journals Infants' Recognition of the Sound Patterns of Their Own Names

1995 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 314-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise R. Mandel ◽  
Peter W. Jusczyk ◽  
David B. Pisoni
Keyword(s):  
Stress Pattern ◽  
Head Turn ◽  
Young Infants ◽  
Sound Patterns ◽  
Stress Patterns

Among the earliest and most frequent words that infants hear are their names Yet little is known about when infants begin to recognize their own names Using a modified version of the head-turn preference procedure, we tested whether 4 5-month-olds preferred to listen to their own names over foils that were either matched or mismatched for stress pattern Our findings provide the first evidence that even these young infants recognize the sound patterns of their own names Infants demonstrated significant preferences for their own names compared with foils that shared the same stress patterns, as well as foils with opposite patterns The results indicate when infants begin to recognize sound patterns of items frequently uttered in the infants' environments

The novel steroidal glycoside from the dried bulb of Allium Macrostemon Bunge inhibits platelet activation

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. S33-S33
Author(s):  
Wenchao Ou ◽  
Haifeng Chen ◽  
Yun Zhong ◽  
Benrong Liu ◽  
Keji Chen
Keyword(s):  
Platelet Activation ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Steroidal Glycoside ◽  
Allium Macrostemon

Food for Thought on Pediatric Feeding and Swallowing

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 110-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan C. Arvedson
Keyword(s):  
Developmentally Appropriate ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Silent Aspiration ◽  
Multiple Systems ◽  
Young Infants ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
Nutrition And Hydration ◽  
Pediatric Feeding ◽  
Areas Of Concern ◽  
And Function

Abstract “Food for Thought” provides an opportunity for review of pertinent topics to add to updates in areas of concern for professionals involved with feeding and swallowing issues in infants and children. Given the frequency with which speech-language pathologists (SLPs) make decisions to alter feedings when young infants demonstrate silent aspiration on videofluoroscopic swallow studies (VFSS), the need for increased understanding about cough and its development/maturation is a high priority. In addition, understanding of the role(s) of laryngeal chemoreflexes (LCRs), relationships (or lack of relationships) between cough and esophagitis, gastroesophageal reflux (GER), and chronic salivary aspiration is critical. Decision making regarding management must take into account multiple systems and their interactions in order to provide safe feeding for all children to meet nutrition and hydration needs without being at risk for pulmonary problems. The responsibility is huge and should encourage all to search the literature so that clinical practice is as evidence-based as possible; this often requires adequate understanding of developmentally appropriate neurophysiology and function.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document