CAREER: Discovering the Underpinnings of Statistical Language Learning in Infants

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

A longstanding question in the developmental and cognitive sciences concerns how infants learn their native language. It is known that talking and reading to infants helps them to make sense of the rapidly changing speech sounds that they are hearing, and results in better language outcomes. It is also known that infants are good at detecting statistical regularities in the language they hear, such as how particular sounds occur together to form words. Becoming familiar with statistical regularities helps infants acquire key aspects of language structure, such as finding individual words within spoken sentences, learning the meanings of those words, and discovering grammatical patterns. However, very little is known about the learning mechanisms that support infants' use of statistical regularities. This research will test how infants' statistical learning ability is determined by their language input and their ability to process that language. Talk to infants is typically about the here-and-now, so language learning involves connecting the speech infants hear with the visual world. The proposed research will examine how developments in infants' ability to extract auditory and visual information are related to statistical learning, and whether these abilities predict when infants will reach language milestones such as the onset of word learning and combining words in their own speech. Infants and toddlers who struggle with language are vulnerable to long-term language and academic difficulties. This research investigating infants' ability to extract patterns and learn from speech will promote early identification of infants at risk for language delays, which is crucial to effective language interventions. Dr. Lany will also work with a local organization focused on increasing awareness of the importance of talking to children for their language development. This partnership will allow for the inclusion of infants at risk for developing language delays in the proposed studies, and will provide an opportunity to share knowledge and to impact the local community.