THE “EXPOSURE" OF EARLY EXPOSURE: LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE

AbstractDespite the fact that many of the world's languages use lexical tone, the majority of language acquisition studies has focused on non-tone languages. Research on tone languages has typically investigated well-known tone languages such as Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese. The current study looked at a Limburgian dialect of Dutch that uses lexical pitch differences, albeit in a rather restricted way. Using a visual habituation paradigm, 6- to 12-month-old Limburgian and Dutch infants were tested for their ability to discriminate Limburgian tones. The results showed that both Limburgian and Dutch infants discriminate the Limburgian tones throughout their first year of life. The role of linguistic experience, acoustic salience, and the degree of similarity to the native prosodic system are discussed.

Download Full-text

Speech Perception and Language Acquisition in the First Year of Life

Annual Review of Psychology ◽

10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100408 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 61 (1) ◽

pp. 191-218 ◽

Cited By ~ 99

Author(s):

Judit Gervain ◽

Jacques Mehler

Keyword(s):

Speech Perception ◽

Language Acquisition ◽

First Year ◽

First Year Of Life

Download Full-text

How Does Early Brain Organization Promote Language Acquisition in Humans?

European Review ◽

10.1017/s1062798708000513 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 399-411 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

G. Dehaene-Lambertz ◽

L. Hertz-Pannier ◽

J. Dubois ◽

S. Dehaene

Keyword(s):

Language Acquisition ◽

Language Learning ◽

Speech Processing ◽

Functional Organization ◽

Word Segmentation ◽

First Year ◽

Brain Organization ◽

Verbal Stimuli ◽

Neuro Imaging ◽

First Year Of Life

Speech processing in adults relies on precise and specialized networks, located primarily in the left hemisphere. Behavioural studies in infants indicate that a considerable amount of language learning already takes place in the first year of life in the domains of phonology, prosody, and word segmentation. Thanks to the progress of neuro-imaging, we can move beyond behavioural methods and examine how the infant’s brain processes verbal stimuli before learning. These studies reveal a structural and functional organization close to what is described in adults and suggest a strong bias for speech processing in these regions that might guide infants in the discovery of the properties of their native language, although no evidence can be provided as yet for speech specificity of such networks.

Download Full-text

Social Interaction in Infancy

10.1093/oso/9780198843290.003.0002 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 27-46

Author(s):

Tobias Schuwerk ◽

Hannes Rakoczy

Keyword(s):

Social Cognition ◽

Social Interaction ◽

Language Acquisition ◽

Theory Of Mind ◽

Early Development ◽

First Year ◽

Cultural Experience ◽

Shared Intentionality ◽

Intentional Agents ◽

First Year Of Life

The present chapter reviews the early development of various forms of social cognition guiding social interaction in infancy. There is wide agreement that very early in the first year of life infants reveal remarkable sensitivity to social information, and engage in remarkable forms of contingent social interaction. It is equally undisputed that towards the end of the first year of life infants begin to operate with basic forms of folk psychology, understanding others and themselves as intentional agents who perceive their surroundings and act intentionally, and that from their second year on infants engage in shared intentionality with others. What is controversial, however, is whether infants already operate with fully fledged meta-representational Theory of Mind, or whether this capacity develops in more protracted ways, depending on language acquisition and cultural experience. This chapter reviews theoretical debates and empirical findings related to this controversy in detail.

Download Full-text

The Development of Swallowing Respiratory Coordination

Perspectives on Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders (Dysphagia) ◽

10.1044/sasd18.1.19 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 19-24

Author(s):

Maggie-Lee Huckabee

Keyword(s):

Cortical Activation ◽

First Year ◽

Healthy Children ◽

Nasal Airflow ◽

Single Session ◽

Primary Finding ◽

Patterns Of Behavior ◽

Cortical Modulation ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Swallowing Apnea

Abstract Research exists that evaluates the mechanics of swallowing respiratory coordination in healthy children and adults as well and individuals with swallowing impairment. The research program summarized in this article represents a systematic examination of swallowing respiratory coordination across the lifespan as a means of behaviorally investigating mechanisms of cortical modulation. Using time-locked recordings of submental surface electromyography, nasal airflow, and thyroid acoustics, three conditions of swallowing were evaluated in 20 adults in a single session and 10 infants in 10 sessions across the first year of life. The three swallowing conditions were selected to represent a continuum of volitional through nonvolitional swallowing control on the basis of a decreasing level of cortical activation. Our primary finding is that, across the lifespan, brainstem control strongly dictates the duration of swallowing apnea and is heavily involved in organizing the integration of swallowing and respiration, even in very early infancy. However, there is evidence that cortical modulation increases across the first 12 months of life to approximate more adult-like patterns of behavior. This modulation influences primarily conditions of volitional swallowing; sleep and naïve swallows appear to not be easily adapted by cortical regulation. Thus, it is attention, not arousal that engages cortical mechanisms.

Download Full-text