2. Early Social Skills, Language and Communication Development

What is primary intersubjectivity?

first months: attention to faces, eye contact, produce vocalisation, imitate sounds & gesture

What is secondary intersubjectivity?

older infants: more sophisticated, pointing, turn taking & shared attention

What interactions take place in primary intersubjectivity with caregivers?

caregivers 7 infants share experiences in face-to-face interactions but these interactions are dyadic, no assumption of the perspective of others & interactions are not intentional

What was found about infants and motivation & dyadic mimicry?

newborns mimic facial expressions, 3-4 month olds imitate sounds, limited form of imitation & no understanding of others intentions but shows that infants are motivated to engage with others.

What do infants have preferences for?

faces - from birth, infants prefer to look at things that are 'face-like'

What gaze do new borns prefer?

direct gaze (compared to averted gaze)

Describe the study on infants gaze? (Senju and Csibra, 2008)

6 month olds only follow gaze to object if preceded by mutual eye gaze. Same results found for infant directed speech but not ADS (adult directed). the communicative signal encourages infants to attend to the same object

What interactions take place in secondary intersubjectivity with caregivers?

caregiver and infant share experiences and these interactions start to become triadic (the infant & caregiver interacting together with a toy) - interactions become intentional and infants start to assume that others have their own perspective

Describe the Still Face experiment (Adamson & Frick, 2003)?

parent 'freezes' and stops responding, the interaction breaks down, attempts to repair the interaction (social engagement cues)

What is the social referencing and the visual cliff example (Sorce et al, 1985)?

visual cliff (depth perception), infants look to parent for an emotional cue of how to respond, shared attention to the situation, transfer of information

What is intentional communication by the infant signified by during visual cliff?

use of eye contact / pointing, consistent use of vocalisation to indicate specific goal, evidence of child waiting for response, persistence if not understood

what are two moods of communication?

turn taking & joint attention

When does turn taking occur?

around 3 months, infants alternate vocalisations with their caregivers. by 12 months, very few overlaps between 'speakers'

What are proto-conversations?

similarities between turn-taking in early vocalisations & later conversation

At what point can infants control turn taking?

interruptions suggest not until 3rd year can children control turn taking in language - in the early stages the caregiver ensures a smooth interaction difficult to establish exactly when mutually intentional

What is joint attention?

triadic interaction involving child, adult and object/event - shared awareness of the shared attention

Describe the study on shared attention during social referencing (visual cliff)?

by 9 months, children look to adult in unfamiliar or threatening situations to gauge emotional response. at 9 months, child & adult interact over object & child switches gaze between adult & object

What do joint attention skills predict?

later language skills - children better learn the names of object when they are attending to the object when its named

What are routines?

caregivers structure routines around of child - early language is learnt in routines

Why are routines important?

routines create a shared context. the child knows what comes next, highly repetitive routines provide a scaffold for learning, routines differ in the types of words used

How do mothers affect child attention in first year of life?

mothers constantly monitor the child's line of regard. when the child's attention shifts from desired object of attention, mothers attempt to regain child's attention

What does mothers sensitivity to child's focus have an impact on?

related to child's vocabulary development - children more likely to learn the referent for an object they attend to than for one their attention is directed to

How is twins language affected by mother?

twins often show language delay - linked to amount of time spent in joint attention episodes with mother, highlighting the mothers role

How do the following points for infants change at 9, 12 and 14 months?

9 months: can follow point in front of another person, 12 months: begin to check back with pointer, 14 months: follows point across line of sight

Why is gaze important?

allows us to track where someone else is looking and join them, engaging in joint attention

At what age do infants follow an adults gaze?

by 9 months

At what point do infants specifically track gaze?

18 months - at 12 months they will follow a head turn, 14 month old will only follow if eyes are visible

What is a problem with studies on eye gaze?

contradicting evidence - some evidence says 18 months but some evidence in infants as young as 12 months

Describe the study on infants understanding communicative intentions (Behne et al., 2005)?

looked at whether 14,18 and 24 month olds will follow a helper's point & whether they understood there is a shared goal of finding the toy. found that infants follow both point & gaze direction to retrieve object of interest but did not follow non-communicative points & gaze direction

What are the two types of pointing?

imperative & declarative

What is imperative pointing?

to get an adult to do something

What is declarative pointing?

to direct adult's attention to something

How is pointing different between 9 and 18 months?

at 9 months, child points to object then checks mothers line of regard but by 18 months child checks mothers line of regard before pointing to an object

What is a criticism of imperative pointing?

infant learns that is she points, she gets what she wants

What is a criticism of declarative pointing?

infant learns that she gets more attention by pointing at things

How do infants react when pointing goes wrong?

12 month olds indicate when adult finds wrong object and respond negatively when attention is directed to the infant and not the object

What are some critical evaluations of evidence that infants understand that others have thoughts?

do you think this evidence is strong? lower level explanations, why is it difficult to make claims about intents and thoughts in infants?