language development

Question 1

when can babies hear

Answer 1

25-29 weeks

Question 2

what frequencies could be heard in the womb?

Answer 2

lower frequencies - below 1000Hz

Question 3

Decaspers reading study to foetus

Answer 3

in utero testing, DeCasper et al. women read a short story everyday from 33-37 weeks on the 38th week foetus is played a recording of that story and then a control story, target start = decreased in heart rate control didn’t. Habituation effect, suggesting foetus can learn sound patterns.

Question 4

what were the findings of pre and pst natal study of a melody on the brain

Answer 4

testing spanning pre and post-natal periods. —> musical melody 5 times a week for the last trimester, ERP recorded after birth and 4 months later in response to ogrinal and changed melody. Significant difference in brain responses. at birth and 4 months.

Question 5

are babies able to discriminate between the language they were exposed to in the womb and other languages?

Answer 5

tested on french babies
they were unable to distinguish between two non native languages but could discriminate between their own and another

Question 6

what is syntax?

Answer 6

Syntax = conventions (set of rules) for ordering words in ways that change the meaning of an utterance.

Question 7

what age does syntax start?

Answer 7

Golinkoff said 19 months because babies looked at video with incorrect syntax for longer suggesting they were surpsied and understood it wasnt correct

Question 8

at what age do infants understand words fall into different categories (abstract rule learning) ?

Answer 8

12 months

Question 9

is the novelty effect bigger for verb or noun framed sentence?

Answer 9

verb

Question 10

what does vgotsky think language is learned in?

Answer 10

the Zone of interest

Question 11

what did piaget think language development was progressed by?

Answer 11

Piaget: Language development is connected to (= conditioned by) cognitive development. Cognitive prerequisites à language. Stages.

Question 12

skinner believed languga eis learned via…

Answer 12

associations

Question 13

what psychologists believed language is learned?

Answer 13

vgotsky
piaget
skinner

Question 14

why did chomsky think language cannot be fully learned?

Answer 14

hilds language imput is poor (there isnt enough in the environmnet to justify a complex language skill set) and contains limited negative evidence:

• Children are rarely exposed to ungrammatical sequences as counterpoints
• parents do not tend to correct the child’s syntactic errors

Question 15

chomsky argues..

Answer 15

we must have an innate capaicty to learn language because it is so complicated
syntactic trees highlight this

Question 16

does language learning have a critical period?

Answer 16

YES
linguistic environment is important since it triggers an innate syntax-acquisisation device, but this has to happen in the first few years of life,

Question 17

genie example of critical period for language

Answer 17

until age of 13 genie was eft in an attic with no means for communication she was never able to learn lanugae fully and was held back at the age of 24-36 months old

Question 18

chomskys main ideas that are dominnant in the field of lanagueg development

Answer 18

• Chomsky (1965) – children come equipped with a biological endowment for language processing (cf. poverty of the input and lack of negative evidence).
• Children come into the world knowing that languages take certain limited forms. This is called Universal Grammar (UG). Continuity from infancy to adulthood.
• Chomsky (1981). UG is not entirely fixed. It has a few Parameters that are free to vary from language to language.

Question 19

pinkers argument

Answer 19

innate capacity for language, They have pre-conceptions about links between knowledge of roles (semantics) and knowledge of grammatical position (cf. Mintz’s experiment), e.g., the ‘doer’ (agent) appears before the verb. Semantic bootstrapping (see later slide). more open to the idea that additional mechanisms contribute to syntactic development.

Question 20

what is semantic bootstrapping?

Answer 20

There are regularities in the observable world. Observation of a link between semantic representations (persons, actions, objects) and syntactic structures:

person-action-object (who does what)

agent-action-patient

subject-verb-object

Question 21

what is statistical learning?

Answer 21

the ability for humans and other animals to extract statistical regularities from the world around them to learn about the environment

Question 22

what was seidenbergs definition of syntax?

Answer 22

knowledge of what is likely to come next given the sentence so far.

Question 23

when does babbling occur in babies?

Answer 23

6-15 months

Question 24

deaf children hand gesture study

Answer 24

Tracked proportion of “manual babbling” (syllabic hand structure) of 2 deaf children and 3 matched hearing children.

Deaf children showed a greater proportion of manual babbling than hearing children and this difference increased with age.

This increased over time, babbling will transfer to gestural communication, it is a necessary stage.

Question 25

what is the debate between babbling being a percersur of language?

Answer 25

discontinuity and continuity hypothesis

Question 26

what is the discontinuity hypothesis?

Answer 26

They have just discovered they can make vocal noises and are using their vocal cords, for muscular exercise it is not a step to learning language no correlation between babbling and start of langauge merley muscle exercise

Question 27

what is the continuity hypotehsis?

Answer 27

commonalities between babbling and their native language. - acoustic analysis would demonstrate this and show its more complex than vocal muscular activity - there actually isn’t a silent period - babbling has linguistic manifestations

Question 28

holowka and Petitto study into continuity hypothesis - babies faces

Answer 28

- brain is lateralised - emotion = right brain - language = left - when we express emotion our left side of the face does something - when we laugh the left side of our moth opens more - do infants when bablling have the right side of the mouth opened more, as adults tend to do - this is what the study found - in depth brain specific features

Question 29

what is a phoneme?

Answer 29

units of speech sounds that can lead to different words, approx 45 phonemes at 1.5 years 50-60% of phonemes are correctly articulated at 3 years nearly all of them are learnt correctly tend to avoid difficult phonemes and simplify words p h n b m q are easiest phonemes for infants 1.5 years

Question 30

when do babies have first word?

Answer 30

9 months ish

Question 31

Tincoff and Jusczyk study loooking into wether children know the words mum and dad

Answer 31

sit child in fonrt of 2 mointors then speaker in between play word they might no, present a video of mum and dad and see which one they look at for longer. then play a word that has no meaning and they have no preference. replace fathers face with random women and found they looked at the mum for longer.

Question 32

if knowing the word mummy can infants learn the word tommy

Answer 32

wo groups one story with mummy in every sentence another group with tommy in every sentence is the word feet easier to know if its with a sentence of a word you already know measure amount of time vs they hear the word cup vs feet, cup is a test word they dont know this word mummy group had prefernce for feet but tommy group didnt

Question 33

saffron et al study with head turn procedure on 8 month old children

Answer 33

xposed child to a made up language for twenty mins - sounded like random words but they start spotting regularities - that language is made of 4 words - they might notice the words and regularities - test play the word that was in the language play word that wasnt in language - can they spot difference - can they spot difference between non word and half word -

Question 34

findings of saffran study

Answer 34

they were excited by hearing words that didnt match watch they expected Results: Infants can discriminate familiar from novel items. Longer listening time to novel items, i.e., a novelty effect. this allowed children to learn words

Question 35

what factors account for ID in vocab vastness

Answer 35

age = 50% biology cognitive abilities, theory of mind, symbolism environmental factors

Question 36

is comprehnsion or productin first in LD

Answer 36

comprehnsion

Question 37

when does sudden word learning spurt?

Answer 37

two years

Question 38

whole object bias

Answer 38

words refer to objects not object parts - teachings features is difficult

Question 39

role of infant directed speech

Answer 39

highlights novelty of sentence, may play an important role in learning syntax

Question 40

role of visual attention in language learning

Answer 40

Results: Successful learning of object-word pairs associated with the proportion of field of view occupied by the object during relevant utterance by the mother (more -> better). But only if the object continues to occupy scene after utterance (how long before doesn’t matter).

Question 41

hebbian learning

Answer 41

track occuing events and consolidate occurong events and decrease link between events that dont connect for example if you see a dog and and a ball together and you already know the word dog other must be ball

Question 42

what is a communication disorder?

Answer 42

impairment in the ability to receive, send, process, and comprehend concepts or verbal, nonverbal and graphic symbol systems. can be evident in language, hearing and speech processes. can range in severity may be a primary disability or secondary to other disabilities

Question 43

when does DLD occur?

Answer 43

DLD occurs when one of these breaks down: semantics, morphology, syntax, phonology and pragmatics.

Question 44

what is DLD?

Answer 44

- Selective problem with language development (quiet, word finding, linguistic immaturity, challenged language comprehension). Language abilities below chronological age expectations that are unlikely to be resolved by age five. - Other aspects of development – self-help skills, socialisation, nonverbal abilities, motor skills – all developing normally. - DLD is specific to language - not explained by biomedical conditions such as brain injury etc. diagnosis by elimination

Question 45

what disorder does DLD commonly occur with?

Answer 45

ASD

Question 46

what feature of ASD does DLD overlap with?

Answer 46

DLD overlaps with impaired communication but may not have the other features

Question 47

evidence for biological factors causing DLD

Answer 47

1. 60% of children with DLD have an affected **family** member; 38% have an affected parent. Important twin studies by Bishop. 2. However, **no single known genetic anomaly**, despite literature on gene **FOXP2** (mutation on chromosome 7). Don’t generally associate these together though. 3. Possible differences in **brain structure**, e.g., grey matter density (MRI) and brain activation patterns (fMRI).

Question 48

what are the causes of dld?

Answer 48

- biology - environmenetal - perceptual and cognitive

Question 49

reasoning for socio-evnivronmental factors causing dld

Answer 49

1. Less interactive/talkative environments, e.g., parents of children with DLD are less likely to “recast” sentences (i.e., rephrase or expand). 2. causality, does linguistic behaviour causes DLD or DLD cause linguistic behaviour

Question 50

reasoning for perceptual and cognitive factors (not purely linguistic) causing DLD

Answer 50

1. iew that DLD is not a purely linguistic disorder as such but a secondary consequence of cognitive deficiencies. 2. Difficulty holding phonological information in working memory, possibly leading to weak contextual integration (Gathercole & Baddeley, 1990). 3. problems with non verbal problem solving

Question 51

study that shows DLD have a problem with number of phonemes not knolwedge

Answer 51

- Children listen to spoken nonwords and repeat. Ok with short nonwords. Harder with longer nonwords - gets harder but no difference when working memory is not overfilled the gap is highlighted more - concluding that its not phonological knowledge bc with two syllable they can do it its the number of phonemes going in working memory that gets confusing

Question 52

what is auitory processing disorder?

Answer 52

- communication problems - perceptive not linguistic - not a hearing problem - Difficulties understanding speech in noisy situations and fast speech. - can share symptomology of DLD and can lead to poor speech perception/production as well as impaired learning. - can align with: heairng impairemnt, depression, learning disability, ADHD and DLD

Question 53

what is the main symptoms of APD?

Answer 53

- Tallal: main problem is with poor auditory temporal discrimination they struggle telling apart short and long auditory events. time is the problem.

Question 54

treatment for APD?

Answer 54

training example study APD children before and after 4 weeks of training (5 to 10 y-olds). Training: Speech and non-speech durational contrasts. Auditory temporal discrimination training leads to speech perception and language comprehension improvement.

Question 55

causes of APD

Answer 55

Problem is auditory: Higher-level auditory brain abnormalities (central nervous system) Beyond auditory nerve, auditory information is processed in complex higher pathways. That is where information about sound features such as pitch, loudness, duration, and spatial location, is extracted. this is tallalls claim problem in brain stem problem is not auditory

Question 56

non neuroscience cause of APD

Answer 56

- POOR ATTENTION - leading to poor auditory heairng and attenion - just a symptom of ADHD?

Question 57

what does APD comorbid with

Answer 57

ADHD

Question 58

WHAT IS A SPEECH DISORDER?

Answer 58

- Speech production deficits that result from an impairment of the motor control system or of phonological planning. - They are not language impairments per se, but they may co-occur with language impairments. - Other oral movements (besides speech) may be impaired, including chewing and smiling.

Question 59

what is apraxia of speech?

Answer 59

roblem with motor control of linguistic representations, Muscle physiology is intact. Phonological representations are intact.

Question 60

traits of apraxia

Answer 60

slow speech, sound distortions, prolonged durations of sounds, reduced prosody, difficulties initiating speech, groping of articulators. Inability to say some sounds.

Question 61

cause of apraxia

Answer 61

Caused by neurological damage to the left frontal cortex surrounding Broca’s Area – due to stroke, brain injuries, illness, or infection.

Question 62

traits of phonological impariment

Answer 62

Sound substitutions, omission (cat > tat). Speech rate and prosody are unimpaired. Errors are more consistent and easier to correct than in apraxia of speech.

Question 63

what is a phonological impairment?

Answer 63

Impairment of phonological planning or phonological representations. Can say all sounds, but don’t use them appropriately within words. Articulation itself is intact; no problems with motor control.

Question 64

treatment for speech disorders?

Answer 64

- Slowing down speech. - Exaggerating movement of lips and tongue. - Saying sounds clearly in words and sentences. - Using more breath to be louder when speaking, e.g., LSVT LOUD intervention programme. Particularly effective for apraxia of speech mostly.

Question 65

what is LSVT LOUD?

Answer 65

- Named after *Lee Silverman Voice Treatment*. Lee Silverman was a Parkinson’s disease (PD) patient. - Emphasis on loudness and breathing. - LSVT LOUD provides speech treatment for people with PD and other neurological conditions involving motor speech disorders (e.g., apraxia of speech).

Question 66

is lsvt loud more effective or is it normal speech therapy?

Answer 66

lsvt

Question 67

what is non-nutrive sticking?

Answer 67

- babies do this when born - shows interest and engamement when they have higher sucking rates - novelety and excitement - usually happens at a new stimulus

Question 68

what is prosody?

Answer 68

Prosody refers to the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech, which contribute to the expressiveness and meaning of spoken language.

Question 69

explain the prosody of cries straighta fter birth

Answer 69

- infants' cries seem to reflect their native language - french cries pitch refelct french prosody

Question 70

what is a main buidling block for language aquisition in the womb?

Answer 70

prosody

Question 71

phoneme

Answer 71

speech sounds t and d ten and den make different meanings

Question 72

vowels are ...

Answer 72

voiced - allow production of pitch and intensity

Question 73

prosody is carried by what what does this mean for infants?

Answer 73

syllables so infants shouldt be able to differentiate between sunds with no syllable structure (no viwels)

Question 74

bertoncini and mehler exp

Answer 74

- played babies pst sound and tsp - no vowels - babies didnt suck more for one suggesting didnt differenciate - vowel is vital for prosody - then put vowel at the beggining and end of the sounds - and they found discriminate - suggesting vowel = prosody

Question 75

infant direct speech

Answer 75

- higehr pitch - exaggerated prosody - this is not universal so isnt necessary for language development

Question 76

is prosody a language specific skill

Answer 76

no

Question 77

what is categorical perception?

Answer 77

a percetual phenomenon whereby events on a continuum are percieved as belonging to discrete catgeories

Question 78

what is voice onset time

Answer 78

time form openning liips until the time vocal chors start vibrating

Question 79

what do you find on a phoneme identification task

Answer 79

theres a sharp phoneme baoundary

Question 80

how can you test auditory categorical perception?

Answer 80

continuum - boundary is distinnctive discrimination - test at the boundary should be good discrimination

Question 81

is categroical perception present at birth?

Answer 81

- create continuim - habituation to one sound - then play one of three things 1. between boundary 2. within boundary 3. control same sound - only a difference in sucking rate in group one - yes its present at birth

Question 82

if categorical perception at birth, does this mean humans are born with a predisposition for language?

Answer 82

no general properties rather then language predisposition

Question 83

is categorical perception language specifi?

Answer 83

no music rhythm vision

Question 84

is categorical perception human specifi?

Answer 84

no, chinchillas, monkeys etc

Question 85

how do you test if chinchillas can tell the difference between sounds?

Answer 85

- go to left side of room if here t for reward or right for d - then play continuim of t - d - they should go left for t 3 times then d 3 - found categoircal perception

Question 86

what tools help learn language for babies?

Answer 86

regularities in language - example of stat learning