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Journal of Experimental Psychology.... Nov 2022How individuals learn complex regularities in the environment and generalize them to new instances is a key question in cognitive science. Although previous...
How individuals learn complex regularities in the environment and generalize them to new instances is a key question in cognitive science. Although previous investigations have advocated the idea that learning and generalizing depend upon separate processes, the same basic learning mechanisms may account for both. In language learning experiments, these mechanisms have typically been studied in isolation of broader cognitive phenomena such as memory, perception, and attention. Here, we show how learning and generalization in language is embedded in these broader theories by testing learners on their ability to chunk nonadjacent dependencies-a key structure in language but a challenge to theories that posit learning through the memorization of structure. In two studies, adult participants were trained and tested on an artificial language containing nonadjacent syllable dependencies, using a novel chunking-based serial recall task involving verbal repetition of target sequences (formed from learned strings) and scrambled foils. Participants recalled significantly more syllables, bigrams, trigrams, and nonadjacent dependencies from sequences conforming to the language's statistics (both learned and generalized sequences). They also encoded and generalized specific nonadjacent chunk information. These results suggest that participants chunk remote dependencies and rapidly generalize this information to novel structures. The results thus provide further support for learning-based approaches to language acquisition, and link statistical learning to broader cognitive mechanisms of memory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Adult; Attention; Generalization, Psychological; Humans; Language; Language Development; Learning
PubMed: 35467930
DOI: 10.1037/xge0001207 -
Journal of Pediatric Nursing 2022In the last decades, the birth of premature babies has increased, it is important to know the impact of certain variables, especially in the most vulnerable groups. (Observational Study)
Observational Study
BACKGROUND
In the last decades, the birth of premature babies has increased, it is important to know the impact of certain variables, especially in the most vulnerable groups.
PURPOSE
To analyse the relationship of gestational age (GA), weight and sex of the children, as well as the educational level and age of the parents with the cognitive, motor and language development of a group of very preterm births, assessed at 36 months.
DESIGN AND METHODS
The research followed a descriptive, observational and cross-sectional design. Children's development was measured using the Bayley-III Scale. Descriptive analysis, bivariate and linear regression models were carried out.
RESULTS
Although the cognitive, motor and language development is within average levels, worse results are evidenced in the group of extreme premature, as opposed to the very premature. Boys score lower than girls, with these differences being more pronounced in the motor area. It also shows how the education level of both parents is related to the levels of development at 3 years of age of children born very prematurely, especially in language.
CONCLUSIONS
Lower GA, male sex and lower parental educational level are associated with higher risk of developmental difficulties.
PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
The findings of this study are relevant to clinical practice because they suggest to develop protocols of evaluation and the follow up of all premature children beyond 36 months, as well as developing specific intervention programmes for the most vulnerable of the premature groups.
Topics: Child Development; Child, Preschool; Cognition; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Gestational Age; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Premature; Language Development; Male
PubMed: 34454803
DOI: 10.1016/j.pedn.2021.08.016 -
Journal of Autism and Developmental... Jun 2022In this study we investigated the impact of parental language input on language development and associated neuroscillatory patterns in toddlers at risk of Autism...
In this study we investigated the impact of parental language input on language development and associated neuroscillatory patterns in toddlers at risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Forty-six mother-toddler dyads at either high (n = 22) or low (n = 24) familial risk of ASD completed a longitudinal, prospective study including free-play, resting electroencephalography, and standardized language assessments. Input quantity/quality at 18 months positively predicted expressive language at 24 months, and relationships were stronger for high-risk toddlers. Moderated mediations revealed that input-language relationships were explained by 24-month frontal and temporal gamma power (30-50 Hz) for high-risk toddlers who would later develop ASD. Results suggest that high-risk toddlers may be cognitively and neurally more sensitive to their language environments, which has implications for early intervention.
Topics: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Autistic Disorder; Child, Preschool; Humans; Infant; Language Development; Parents; Prospective Studies
PubMed: 34185234
DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05024-6 -
Developmental Science Mar 2023Code-switching occurs regularly in the input to bilingual children. Yet, the effect of code-switched input on language development is unclear. To test whether word...
Code-switching occurs regularly in the input to bilingual children. Yet, the effect of code-switched input on language development is unclear. To test whether word learning would be affected by code-switching, Spanish-English bilingual children (N = 45, 19 boys, Mean = 5.05 years; ethnicity: 37 Hispanic/Latino, six Non-Hispanic/Latino, two unreported) were taught English-like novel words in two conditions. In the English-only condition, definitions for novel words were provided entirely in English. In the code-switch condition, definitions for novel words were provided in English and Spanish, incorporating code-switches. Children required fewer exposures to retain novel words in the code-switch than the English-only condition and this effect was not moderated by children's language ability or exposure to code-switching, suggesting that code-switched input does not pose word-learning risks to bilingual children, including children with lower levels of language ability.
Topics: Male; Child; Humans; Child, Preschool; Multilingualism; Language; Language Development; Verbal Learning; Aptitude
PubMed: 35639763
DOI: 10.1111/desc.13292 -
Journal of Child Language Jul 2023This commentary makes the argument that the child-internal and child-external sources of individual differences in bilingual development are much the same as the sources...
This commentary makes the argument that the child-internal and child-external sources of individual differences in bilingual development are much the same as the sources of individual differences in monolingual development. It makes the further argument that the operation of the child-external influences results in differences between monolingual and bilingual development in the rate and sometimes in the outcome of language acquisition. An argument is made for the scientific and practical value of understanding the differences between monolingual and bilingual development, and future directions for research are suggested.
Topics: Humans; Language; Multilingualism; Language Development
PubMed: 36734088
DOI: 10.1017/S0305000922000770 -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Nov 2021The literature has identified many important factors affecting the extent to which languages in bilinguals rely on the same neural populations in the specific brain... (Review)
Review
The literature has identified many important factors affecting the extent to which languages in bilinguals rely on the same neural populations in the specific brain region. The factors include the age of acquisition of the second language (L2), proficiency level of the first language (L1) and L2, and the amount of language exposure, among others. What is lacking is a set of global principles that explain how the many factors relate to the degree to which languages overlap neuroanatomically in bilinguals. We are offering a set of such principles that together account for the numerous sources of data that have been examined individually but not collectively: (1) the principle of acquisition similarity between L1 and L2, (2) the principle of linguistic similarity between L1 and L2, and (3) the principle of cognitive control and effort. Referencing the broad characteristics of language organization in bilinguals, as presented by the principles, can provide a roadmap for future clinical and basic science research.
Topics: Brain; Brain Mapping; Humans; Language; Language Development; Multilingualism
PubMed: 34400175
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.08.005 -
Topics in Cognitive Science Jul 2020Artificial grammar learning (AGL) paradigms have proven to be productive and useful to investigate how young infants break into the grammar of their native language(s).... (Review)
Review
Artificial grammar learning (AGL) paradigms have proven to be productive and useful to investigate how young infants break into the grammar of their native language(s). The question of when infants first show the ability to learn abstract grammatical rules has been central to theoretical debates about the innate vs. learned nature of grammar. The presence of this ability early in development, that is, before considerable experience with language, has been argued to provide evidence for a biologically endowed ability to acquire language. Artificial grammar learning tasks also allow infant populations to be readily compared with adults and non-human animals. Artificial grammar learning paradigms with infants have been used to investigate a number of linguistic phenomena and learning tasks, from word segmentation to phonotactics and morphosyntax. In this review, we focus on AGL studies testing infants' ability to learn grammatical/structural properties of language. Specifically, we discuss the results of AGL studies focusing on repetition-based regularities, the categorization of functors, adjacent and non-adjacent dependencies, and word order. We discuss the implications of the results for a general theory of language acquisition, and we outline some of the open questions and challenges.
Topics: Humans; Infant; Infant Behavior; Language Development; Learning; Linguistics
PubMed: 30554481
DOI: 10.1111/tops.12400 -
PLoS Biology May 2022Humans communicate with small children in unusual and highly conspicuous ways (child-directed communication (CDC)), which enhance social bonding and facilitate language...
Humans communicate with small children in unusual and highly conspicuous ways (child-directed communication (CDC)), which enhance social bonding and facilitate language acquisition. CDC-like inputs are also reported for some vocally learning animals, suggesting similar functions in facilitating communicative competence. However, adult great apes, our closest living relatives, rarely signal to their infants, implicating communication surrounding the infant as the main input for infant great apes and early humans. Given cross-cultural variation in the amount and structure of CDC, we suggest that child-surrounding communication (CSC) provides essential compensatory input when CDC is less prevalent-a paramount topic for future studies.
Topics: Animal Communication; Animals; Communication; Hominidae; Humans; Infant; Language Development; Learning
PubMed: 35522717
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001630 -
Perspectives on Psychological Science :... Nov 2023Infants master temporal patterns of their native language at a developmental trajectory from slow to fast: Shortly after birth, they recognize the slow acoustic...
Infants master temporal patterns of their native language at a developmental trajectory from slow to fast: Shortly after birth, they recognize the slow acoustic modulations specific to their native language before tuning into faster language-specific patterns between 6 and 12 months of age. We propose here that this trajectory is constrained by neuronal maturation-in particular, the gradual emergence of high-frequency neural oscillations in the infant electroencephalogram. Infants' initial focus on slow prosodic modulations is consistent with the prenatal availability of slow electrophysiological activity (i.e., theta- and delta-band oscillations). Our proposal is consistent with the temporal patterns of infant-directed speech, which initially amplifies slow modulations, approaching the faster modulation range of adult-directed speech only as infants' language has advanced sufficiently. Moreover, our proposal agrees with evidence from premature infants showing maturational age is a stronger predictor of language development than ex utero exposure to speech, indicating that premature infants cannot exploit their earlier availability of speech because of electrophysiological constraints. In sum, we provide a new perspective on language acquisition emphasizing neuronal development as a critical driving force of infants' language development.
Topics: Infant; Adult; Female; Pregnancy; Humans; Language Development; Language; Speech; Speech Perception
PubMed: 36753616
DOI: 10.1177/17456916231151584 -
Tijdschrift Voor Psychiatrie 2023Children with a neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorder often have language difficulties. A large group of children has severely impaired language learning abilities...
BACKGROUND
Children with a neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorder often have language difficulties. A large group of children has severely impaired language learning abilities in the absence of a clear cause. These children have developmental language disorder (DLD). Many children with DLD also develop psychiatric symptoms which are associated with other neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorder.
AIM
In this article, we provide information on children with DLD, on the often atypical language development of children with other neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorder, and on the mechanisms that may explain the co-occurrence of language problems and psychiatric symptoms.
METHODS
We discuss relevant literature and insights from clinical practice.
RESULTS
Psychiatric symptoms can hinder language development and, vice versa, children with language problems are more vulnerable to develop behavior associated with a psychiatric diagnosis. Given the frequent co-occurrence of language problems and psychiatric symptoms in children, there is a high chance that a psychiatrist will encounter children with language difficulties in daily clinical practice.
CONCLUSION
Knowledge and awareness of this co-occurrence benefits clinical care, and has important implications for diagnosis and intervention of children with neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorders.
Topics: Humans; Child; Language Development; Mental Disorders; Learning; Attention
PubMed: 36951774
DOI: No ID Found