How Infants Link Language and Thought

Summary: A new study provides evidence of the role of experience in linking cognition and language in infants.

Source: Northwestern University.

New evidence reveals powerful role of experience in linking language and cognition in infants.

Prior research has found that infants come into the world equipped with an initially broad link, one that encompasses the communicative signals of both humans and nonhuman primates. At 3 months old, listening to both human and nonhuman primate (lemur) vocalizations supports infants’ ability to form categories, a building block of cognition. But by 6 months, the link has narrowed, with only human vocalizations supporting categorization. Infants’ initially broad link to cognition is sculpted by their experience.

Image shows a gorgeous little girl genius.
In the experiments, the researchers found that merely exposing 6-month-old infants to nonhuman primate vocalizations permits them to preserve, rather than sever, their early link between these signals and categorization. Exposing infants to backward human speech — a signal that fails to support categorization in the first year of life — does not have this advantage. NeuroscienceNews.com image is is for illustrative purposes only. Credit: NeuroscienceNews.com.

Northwestern researchers sought to understand what mechanisms underlie this rapid tuning process and document in a new study the crucial role of experience as infants tune this link specifically to human language.

In the experiments, the researchers found that merely exposing 6-month-old infants to nonhuman primate vocalizations permits them to preserve, rather than sever, their early link between these signals and categorization. Exposing infants to backward human speech — a signal that fails to support categorization in the first year of life — does not have this advantage.

“This new evidence illuminates the central role of early experience as infants specify which signals, from an initially broad set, they will continue to link to core cognitive capacities,” said Danielle R. Perszyk, lead author of the study and a doctoral candidate in cognitive psychology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern.

The research, which underscores the importance of language exposure in the first months of life, also has far-reaching implications for early language and cognitive development.

“It provides a unique vantage point from which to consider the intricate interface between capacities inherent in the human infant and the shaping force of experience,” said Sandra Waxman, senior author of the study, director of the Project on Child Development, faculty fellow in Northwestern’s Institute for Policy Research and the Louis W. Menk Chair in Psychology at Northwestern.

“Although experience may play little, if any role, in picking out the broad set of signals that infants first link to cognition, here we show that experience is essential in guiding infants, with increasing precision, to single out which signals from the initially privileged set they will continue to link to meaning and which they will tune out,” Waxman said.

About this neuroscience research article

Funding: Funding information behind paywall.

Source: Hilary Hurd Anyaso – Northwestern University
Image Source: This NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to NeuroscienceNews.
Original Research: Abstract for “Listening to the calls of the wild: The role of experience in linking language and cognition in young infants” by Danielle R. Perszyk and Sandra R. Waxman in Cognition. Published online May 23 2016 doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2016.05.004

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]Northwestern University. “How Infants Link Language and Thought.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 23 May 2016.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/language-cognition-infants-4278/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]Northwestern University. (2016, May 23). How Infants Link Language and Thought. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved May 23, 2016 from https://neurosciencenews.com/language-cognition-infants-4278/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]Northwestern University. “How Infants Link Language and Thought.” https://neurosciencenews.com/language-cognition-infants-4278/ (accessed May 23, 2016).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

Listening to the calls of the wild: The role of experience in linking language and cognition in young infants

Well before they understand their first words, infants have begun to link language and cognition. This link is initially broad: At 3 months, listening to both human and nonhuman primate vocalizations supports infants’ object categorization, a building block of cognition. But by 6 months, the link has narrowed: Only human vocalizations support categorization. What mechanisms underlie this rapid tuning process? Here, we document the crucial role of infants’ experience as infants tune this link to cognition. Merely exposing infants to nonhuman primate vocalizations permits them to preserve, rather than sever, the link between these signals and categorization. Exposing infants to backward speech—a signal that fails to support categorization in the first year of life—does not have this advantage. This new evidence illuminates the central role of early experience as infants specify which signals, from an initially broad set, they will continue to link to core cognitive capacities.

“Listening to the calls of the wild: The role of experience in linking language and cognition in young infants” by Danielle R. Perszyk and Sandra R. Waxman in Cognition. Published online May 23 2016 doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2016.05.004

Feel free to share this Neuroscience News.
Join our Newsletter
I agree to have my personal information transferred to AWeber for Neuroscience Newsletter ( more information )
Sign up to receive our recent neuroscience headlines and summaries sent to your email once a day, totally free.
We hate spam and only use your email to contact you about newsletters. You can cancel your subscription any time.