Electrophysiological Evidence for the Understanding of Maternal Speech by 9-Month-Old Infants

Psychology

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https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612438734
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Keywords

LANGUAGE, GAZE, OBJECTS, semantic priming, PICTURE CONTEXTS, WORDS, SEMANTIC INCONGRUITY, NEWBORNS, language development, BRAIN, priming, language acquisition, MOTHER, infant development, N400, infants, ERP, REFERENTIAL NATURE

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Electrophysiological Evidence for the Understanding of Maternal Speech by 9-Month-Old Infants. / Parise, Eugenio; Csibra, Gergely.
In: Psychological Science, Vol. 23, No. 7, 07.2012, p. 728-733.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Bibtex

@article{de9c4348450c44aa83285af57e089efb,

title = "Electrophysiological Evidence for the Understanding of Maternal Speech by 9-Month-Old Infants",

abstract = "Early word learning in infants relies on statistical, prosodic, and social cues that support speech segmentation and the attachment of meaning to words. It is debated whether such early word knowledge represents mere associations between sound patterns and visual object features, or reflects referential understanding of words. By measuring an event-related brain potential component known as the N400, we demonstrated that 9-month-old infants can detect the mismatch between an object appearing from behind an occluder and a preceding label with which their mother introduces it. Differential N400 amplitudes have been shown to reflect semantic priming in adults, and its absence in infants has been interpreted as a sign of associative word learning. By setting up a live communicative situation for referring to objects, we demonstrated that a similar priming effect also occurs in young infants. This finding may indicate that word meaning is referential from the outset of word learning and that referential expectation drives, rather than results from, vocabulary acquisition in humans.",

keywords = "LANGUAGE, GAZE, OBJECTS, semantic priming, PICTURE CONTEXTS, WORDS, SEMANTIC INCONGRUITY, NEWBORNS, language development, BRAIN, priming, language acquisition, MOTHER, infant development, N400, infants, ERP, REFERENTIAL NATURE",

author = "Eugenio Parise and Gergely Csibra",

year = "2012",

month = jul,

doi = "10.1177/0956797612438734",

language = "English",

volume = "23",

pages = "728--733",

journal = "Psychological Science",

issn = "0956-7976",

publisher = "SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC",

number = "7",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Electrophysiological Evidence for the Understanding of Maternal Speech by 9-Month-Old Infants

AU - Parise, Eugenio

AU - Csibra, Gergely

PY - 2012/7

Y1 - 2012/7

N2 - Early word learning in infants relies on statistical, prosodic, and social cues that support speech segmentation and the attachment of meaning to words. It is debated whether such early word knowledge represents mere associations between sound patterns and visual object features, or reflects referential understanding of words. By measuring an event-related brain potential component known as the N400, we demonstrated that 9-month-old infants can detect the mismatch between an object appearing from behind an occluder and a preceding label with which their mother introduces it. Differential N400 amplitudes have been shown to reflect semantic priming in adults, and its absence in infants has been interpreted as a sign of associative word learning. By setting up a live communicative situation for referring to objects, we demonstrated that a similar priming effect also occurs in young infants. This finding may indicate that word meaning is referential from the outset of word learning and that referential expectation drives, rather than results from, vocabulary acquisition in humans.

AB - Early word learning in infants relies on statistical, prosodic, and social cues that support speech segmentation and the attachment of meaning to words. It is debated whether such early word knowledge represents mere associations between sound patterns and visual object features, or reflects referential understanding of words. By measuring an event-related brain potential component known as the N400, we demonstrated that 9-month-old infants can detect the mismatch between an object appearing from behind an occluder and a preceding label with which their mother introduces it. Differential N400 amplitudes have been shown to reflect semantic priming in adults, and its absence in infants has been interpreted as a sign of associative word learning. By setting up a live communicative situation for referring to objects, we demonstrated that a similar priming effect also occurs in young infants. This finding may indicate that word meaning is referential from the outset of word learning and that referential expectation drives, rather than results from, vocabulary acquisition in humans.

KW - LANGUAGE

KW - GAZE

KW - OBJECTS

KW - semantic priming

KW - PICTURE CONTEXTS

KW - WORDS

KW - SEMANTIC INCONGRUITY

KW - NEWBORNS

KW - language development

KW - BRAIN

KW - priming

KW - language acquisition

KW - MOTHER

KW - infant development

KW - N400

KW - infants

KW - ERP

KW - REFERENTIAL NATURE

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84863919738&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/0956797612438734

DO - 10.1177/0956797612438734

M3 - Journal article

VL - 23

SP - 728

EP - 733

JO - Psychological Science

JF - Psychological Science

SN - 0956-7976

IS - 7

ER -

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