scholarly journals Early language competence, but not general cognitive ability, predicts children’s recognition of emotion from facial and vocal cues

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9118
Author(s):  
Sarah Griffiths ◽  
Shaun Kok Yew Goh ◽  
Courtenay Fraiser Norbury ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Emotion Identification ◽  
Good Mental Health ◽  
Vocal Emotion ◽  
Emotion Cues

The ability to accurately identify and label emotions in the self and others is crucial for successful social interactions and good mental health. In the current study we tested the longitudinal relationship between early language skills and recognition of facial and vocal emotion cues in a representative UK population cohort with diverse language and cognitive skills (N = 369), including a large sample of children that met criteria for Developmental Language Disorder (DLD, N = 97). Language skills, but not non-verbal cognitive ability, at age 5–6 predicted emotion recognition at age 10–12. Children that met the criteria for DLD showed a large deficit in recognition of facial and vocal emotion cues. The results highlight the importance of language in supporting identification of emotions from non-verbal cues. Impairments in emotion identification may be one mechanism by which language disorder in early childhood predisposes children to later adverse social and mental health outcomes.

scholarly journals Relationship between early language competence and cognitive emotion regulation in adolescence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Louise Griffiths ◽  
Chatrin Suksasilp ◽  
Laura Lucas ◽  
Catherine L. Sebastian ◽  
Courtenay Norbury
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
Large Population ◽  
School Entry ◽  
Cognitive Emotion Regulation ◽  
Good Mental Health

Background Effective use of cognitive reappraisal strategies for emotion regulation improves throughout adolescence and promotes good mental health. Language skills may partially drive improvements in reappraisal efficacy, meaning children with neurodevelopmental conditions that affect language may not learn to regulate emotions as effectively as their peers. Method Data are from the Surrey Communication and Language in Education Study (SCALES); a large, population derived cohort of children with diverse language and cognitive skills. We tested whether language skills at school entry predicted success in regulating negative emotions at age 10-11 using a temporal distancing strategy, in a task that utilised hypothetical distressing scenarios. We additionally compared children that met the criteria for Language Disorder (LD) in Year 1 to children with typical language, on their temporal distancing performance. Results Across the whole sample (N = 344), language skills at school entry predicted emotion regulation success in Year 6 (β = .23), over and above the concurrent association between language and regulation success. A quarter of children with LD were unable to complete the temporal distancing task. These children had more severe language difficulties, lower non-verbal IQ and more comorbid conditions. There was no evidence that children with LD that could engage in the task were less successful in using the temporal distancing strategy to reduce negative emotions compared to peers with typical language. Discussion There is a longitudinal relationship between language skills at school entry and the ability to use reappraisal for emotion regulation in early adolescence. This suggests that language may help children learn how to effectively regulate their emotions. Many children with LD were unable to participate in the task. This has implications for clinicians addressing mental health needs for children with neurodevelopmental conditions that affect language, as conversations about emotions and emotion regulation are an integral part of therapy.

scholarly journals Relationship between early language competence and cognitive emotion regulation in adolescence

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Griffiths ◽  
Chatrin Suksasilp ◽  
Laura Lucas ◽  
Catherine L. Sebastian ◽  
Courtenay Norbury ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
School Entry ◽  
Mental Health Needs ◽  
Cognitive Emotion Regulation ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Good Mental Health ◽  
Language Difficulties

Cognitive emotion regulation improves throughout adolescence and promotes good mental health. Here, we test whether language skills at school entry predict success in emotion regulation in an experimental task at age 10–11, using longitudinal data from the Surrey Communication and Language in Education Study. We additionally compared the performance of children with and without language disorder (LD). Across the whole sample ( N = 344), language skills at school entry predicted emotion regulation success in Year 6 ( β = 0.23), over and above the concurrent association between language and regulation success. There was no evidence that children with LD that could engage in the task were less successful regulators compared to peers with typical language. However, a quarter of children with LD were unable to complete the task. These children had more severe language difficulties, lower non-verbal IQ and more comorbid conditions. This has implications for clinicians addressing mental health needs for children with neurodevelopmental conditions that affect language, as conversations about emotions and emotion regulation are an integral part of therapy. The longitudinal relationship between language skills and the capacity to use temporal distancing for emotion regulation in early adolescence suggests that language may drive improvements in emotion regulation.

Does Age Moderate the Influence of Early Life Language Experiences? A Naturalistic Home Observation Study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina d'Apice ◽  
Sophie von Stumm
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Cognitive Testing ◽  
Parent Ratings ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Observation Study ◽  
Home Environments ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Audio Recordings

We explored if children’s age moderated associations between their early life language experiences and their linguistic and cognitive skills. For 107 British children, aged 24 to 48 months, and their families, we collected 3 day-long audio-recordings of their naturalistic home environments (M = 15.06 hours per day, SD = 1.87). Children’s cognitive ability was assessed by parent-ratings and with a cognitive testing booklet that children completed at home. We found that the quantity, lexical diversity and vocabulary sophistication of adult speech were associated with children’s linguistic and cognitive skills. However, these associations were not moderated by children’s age. Our findings suggest that the influence of early life language experience is not differentiated at age 24 to 48 months.

scholarly journals Variations in the Home Language Environment and Early Language Development in Rural China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2671
Author(s):  
Yue Ma ◽  
Laura Jonsson ◽  
Tianli Feng ◽  
Tyler Weisberg ◽  
Teresa Shao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Child Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Early Language Development ◽  
Language Environment ◽  
Conversational Turns ◽  
Home Language Environment

The home language environment is critical to early language development and subsequent skills. However, few studies have quantitatively measured the home language environment in low-income, developing settings. This study explores variations in the home language environment and child language skills among households in poor rural villages in northwestern China. Audio recordings were collected for 38 children aged 20–28 months and analyzed using Language Environment Analysis (LENA) software; language skills were measured using the MacArthur–Bates Mandarin Communicative Developmental Inventories expressive vocabulary scale. The results revealed large variability in both child language skills and home language environment measures (adult words, conversational turns, and child vocalizations) with 5- to 6-fold differences between the highest and lowest scores. Despite variation, however, the average number of adult words and conversational turns were lower than found among urban Chinese children. Correlation analyses did not identify significant correlations between demographic characteristics and the home language environment. However, the results do indicate significant correlations between the home language environment and child language skills, with conversational turns showing the strongest correlation. The results point to a need for further research on language engagement and ways to increase parent–child interactions to improve early language development among young children in rural China.

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