Cognitive development in toddlerhood exam 3

Universal Pattern of Language development

• same pattern observed in every culture

• suggests that certain aspects of language development are biologically determined

importance of the Environment

• The language you learn depends on what language you are exposed to

• there is a sensitive period for language acquisition

Sensitive period hypothesis

• certain kinds of experiences are especially important at particular points in development

sensitive periods… learning a second language

Grammatical level of Chinese immigrants

• depends on age of arrival in USA

• unrelated to how long they’ve been in the country

Hemispheric differences in language processing

• adults who learned a second language at 1-3 years of age show the normal pattern of greater left- hemisphere activity in a test of grammatical knowledge

• those who learned the language later show increased right-hemisphere activity

Early baby sounds- 2 months

cooing

• one syllable sounds like “ah” & “oo”

• associated with positive emotions

early baby sounds- 6 months

reduplicated babbling

• strings several instances of same sounds together like “bababa”

• this babbling is similar across different cultures and languages

• can’t reinforce babbling to create words

  • can reinforce frequency of babbling

early baby sounds cont.

even deaf infants display babbling

they produce signs that are meaningless but resemble the tempo & duration of real signs

• suggests a biological mechanism

• but, they are delayed in duplicating & production of proper syllables

Deaf Children

About 1 in every 1000 American infants is born deaf

• over 90% of deaf children have hearing parents

• these children are often delayed in language and complex make- believe play

• delays more pronounced with hearing parents than with deaf parents

Becoming a communicator

by 4 months, infants & adults follow each other’s gaze

• the adults label what is seen

• experiencing this joint attention often speeds up language development

• simple infant games such as peekaboo demonstrate conversational turn-taking

nonverbal language

gestures first seem to be use around 8-10 months

• used to indicate requests

• for ex, wanting a toy

• might be related to physical development

• around 11-12 months, gesture start to be used for referential communication (RC)

referential communication (RC)

indicate items or events in environment

ex: holding up a toy to show it

type of RC- proto-declarative signal

gestures to call adult’s attention to an object

types of RC proto-imperative signal

gestures to get someone to do something

nonverbal language use

end of first year, get a combination of gestures and vocalizations

• lala is also an example of a protoword

• vocalization with a consistent meaning, but world doesn’t resemble real word

  • a bird isn’t a lala

  • stat being used around 10-12 mo.

First words

firs comprehensible words appear to occur in particular contexts around 12 mo

• ‘no’ when rejecting an object

• ‘bye’ when putting down phone

• ‘papa’ when the doorbell rings

• children first words usually refer

  • general names

  • actions

  • social words