L2 Early social skills and language/communication development

What is intersubjectivity in developmental psychology?

The shared understanding and emotional connection between individuals, foundational for communication.

What is primary intersubjectivity (type of interaction, features, intention)?

Dyadic interactions between infant and caregiver or infant and object, involving shared attention and imitation, without understanding others' perspectives and having no intent

List 3 features of primary intersubjectivity.

Eye contact and gesture and vocal imitation.

What did Meltzoff & Moore (1977) find about infant imitation at 3-4 months (what can they imitate and what does it show)?

Newborns can imitate facial expressions and sounds, showing early social engagement.

What did Meltzoff and Moore assume about infants’ ability to mimic facial and verbal expressions

there was no understanding of others’ intentions

How are sounds/words produced by infants before around 1 year old labelled as (and why?)

only vocal mimicry, not considered ‘first words’ as that would imply intention

What visual preference for infants have from birth

face-like stimuli

Since infants prefer face-like stimuli, what gaze preference might they have

direct gaze over averted gaze

At 6 months, infants only follow gaze to an object if preceded by ?, according to Senju and Csibra

mutual eye gaze or infant-directed speech

What is secondary intersubjectivity (type of interaction, features, intention)?

Triadic interactions involving shared attention with caregiver and object/event, intentional communication, and perspective-taking.

List 3 features of secondary intersubjectivity.

Pointing, turn-taking and joint attention.

At what age does secondary intersubjectivity typically emerge?

Around 9 months.

How do interactions shift from dyadic to triadic?

Infants begin to include objects/events in shared experiences with caregivers.

What is the Still Face Experiment

adult engages in emotional responses with infant but then freezes and stops responding, causing the interaction to break down while the infant tries to repair the lost interaction

What does the Still Face Experiment demonstrate about infants’ intentions?

Infants attempt to repair broken social interactions, showing emotional coordination.

What did Sorce et al. (1985) find in the visual cliff experiment, what is this an example of?

Infants use caregiver’s emotional signals to decide whether to cross the cliff, example of social referencing

4 infant signals that suggestion intentional communication

eye contact/pointing to direct attention, use of vocalisation, waiting for response and persistence

Two key modes of communication important for language acquisition

turn-taking and joint attention

What is turn-taking in early communication?

Alternating vocalisations between infant and caregiver, forming proto-conversations.

How does turn-taking support language development?

Builds conversational structure and timing, foundational for dialogue.

When did research initially think turn-taking skills were acquired, and when are they actually thought to develop

initially around 12 months but actually not till 3rd year

Who actually facilitates turn-taking conversation before infants are 3 years old

the caregiver

What is joint attention and what three features does it involve?

A shared focus between infant, caregiver, and object/event, involving gaze following, pointing, and emotional referencing.

What is social referencing?

Infants look to caregivers for emotional cues in uncertain situations (e.g., visual cliff)

What does social referencing require

shared attention and transfer of information

How does joint attention support word learning, what is the label for this?

Infants learn object names better when attending to the person and object during naming, topic comment.

What can predict later language skills

joint attention skills

Important structure for early language acquisition according to Bruner

routines

How do routines scaffold language learning?

Provide predictable, shared, repetitive contexts for word exposure and use.

What is caregivers responsibility during infants’ first year to facilitate language acquisition

establishing shared topic and providing relevant language

What role does caregiver sensitivity play in vocabulary development?

Responsive caregivers help infants learn words by aligning with their focus of attention.

What age do infants begin to check back after pointing?

Around 12 months.

What age do infants follow points across line of sight?

Around 14 months.

At what age do infants begin to follow gaze and engage in joint attention?

Around 9 months.

It is assumed that infants follow gaze from around 9 months, but what are they not actually tracking until 18 months

eyes, the exact gaze, maybe just head movement

What did Brooks & Meltzoff (2002) find about gaze following at 14 months?

Infants follow gaze only when eyes are visible, indicating understanding of communicative intent.

What does Behne et al. (2005) find when infants understand communicative intents of adults?

Infants follow points and gaze direction to retrieve object of interest .

What is declarative pointing?

Pointing to share interest or direct attention.

What is imperative pointing?

Pointing to request an action or object.

What developmental change in infants occurs when directing attention at 9 months vs 18 months

9 months infants points to object and then checks mother’s attention while at 18 months, infants check mothers attention before pointing to an object

When do infants begin to follow gaze behind barriers?

Around 12–18 months.

Why is it difficult to assess infants’ understanding of intentions?

Behaviour may reflect low-level responses (e.g., movement tracking) rather than true mental state attribution.

What methodological challenge exists in studying early social skills?

Infants’ behaviours are subtle and open to multiple interpretations.

Are early social skills necessary for language acquisition?

Evidence suggests they scaffold language, but causality is debated.