A5002898299- Child and Animal Learning Development
- Language Development and Disorders
- Reading and Literacy Development
- Multisensory perception and integration
- Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills
- Infant Health and Development
- Neonatal and fetal brain pathology
- Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy Techniques
- Infant Development and Preterm Care
- EEG and Brain-Computer Interfaces
- Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Experimental and Theoretical Physics Studies
- Non-Invasive Vital Sign Monitoring
- Environmental and Sediment Control
- Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
- HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- Science Education and Pedagogy
- Hearing Impairment and Communication
- Neural dynamics and brain function
- Early Childhood Education and Development
- Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- HIV/AIDS Impact and Responses
- Children's Physical and Motor Development
- Design Education and Practice
- Spectroscopy Techniques in Biomedical and Chemical Research
University of Manchester
2019-2024
Hamburg Institute of International Economics
2022
Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
2013-2021
Northwestern University
2009-2013
Neonates prefer human speech to other nonlinguistic auditory stimuli. However, it remains an open question whether there are any conceptual consequences of words on object categorization in infants younger than 6 months. The current study examined the influence and tones forty‐six 3‐ 4‐month‐old infants. Infants were familiarized different exemplars a category accompanied by either labeling phrase or tone sequence. In test, viewed novel new within‐category exemplars. who heard phrases...
Psychological scientists have become increasingly concerned with issues related to methodology and replicability, infancy researchers in particular face specific challenges replicability: For example, high-powered studies are difficult conduct, testing conditions vary across labs, different labs access infant populations. Addressing these concerns, we report on a large-scale, multisite study aimed at (a) assessing the overall replicability of single theoretically important phenomenon (b)...
Language is a signature of our species and primary conduit for conveying the contents minds. The power language derives not only from exquisite detail signal itself but also its intricate link to human cognition. To acquire language, infants must identify which signals are part their discover how these linked meaning. At birth, prefer listening vocalizations nonhuman primates; within 3 mo, this initially broad preference tuned specifically vocalizations. Moreover, even at early developmental...
This research asks whether analogical processing ability is present in human infants, using the simplest and most basic relation—the same–different relation. Experiment 1 ( N = 26) tested 7‐ 9‐month‐olds spontaneously detect generalize these relations from a single example, as previous has suggested. The attempted replication failed. 2 asked infants could abstract relation via (Experiment 2, 64). Indeed, with four exemplars, it to novel pairs. Furthermore, prior experience objects disrupted...
Many studies have established that 2-month-old infants knowledge of solid objects' basic physical properties. Evidence about infants' understanding nonsolid substances, however, is relatively sparse and equivocal. We present two experiments demonstrating 5-month-old distinct expectations for how solids liquids behave. Experiment 1 showed use the motion cues from surface a contained liquid or to predict whether it will pour tumble cup if upended. 2 extended these findings show lead new object...
Before infants can learn words, they must identify those words in continuous speech. Yet, the speech signal lacks obvious boundary markers, which poses a potential problem for language acquisition (Swingley, Philos Trans R Soc Lond. Series B, Biol Sci 364(1536), 3617-3632, 2009). By middle of first year, seem to have solved this (Bergelson & Swingley, Proc Natl Acad 109(9), 3253-3258, 2012; Jusczyk Aslin, Cogn Psychol 29, 1-23, 1995), but it is unknown if segmentation abilities are present...
Experience puts people in touch with nonsolid substances, such as water, blood, and milk, which are crucial to survival. People must be able understand the behavior of these substances differentiate their properties from those solid objects. We investigated whether infants represent a conceptual category distinct objects on basis differences cohesiveness. Experiment 1 established that can distinguish water perceptually matched correctly predict item will pass through or trapped by grid....
Abstract To understand language, humans must encode information from rapid, sequential streams of syllables – tracking their order and organizing them into words, phrases, sentences. We used Near‐Infrared Spectroscopy ( NIRS ) to determine whether human neonates are born with the capacity track positions in multisyllabic sequences. After familiarization a six‐syllable sequence, neonate brain responded change (as shown by an increase oxy‐hemoglobin) when two edge switched but not middle...
By exploiting a multichannel portable instrument for time-domain near-infrared spectroscopy (TD-NIRS), we characterized healthy neonates' brains in term of optical properties and hemodynamic parameters. In particular, assessed the absolute values absorption reduced scattering coefficients at two wavelengths, together with oxy-, deoxy- total hemoglobin concentrations, blood oxygen saturation brains. this study, 33 full-term neonates were tested, obtaining following median values: 0.28...
To learn a language infants must to link arbitrary sounds their meaning. While words are the clearest example of this link, they not only component language; morphological regularities (e.g., plural -s suffix in English) carry meaning as well. Comprehensive theories acquisition account for how build links between these other parts and Here, we investigated morphology learning Italian, with rich inflectional that marks both gender number on article final vowel nouns. We demonstrate can...
During language acquisition children generalise at multiple layers of granularity. Ambridge argues that abstraction-based accounts suffer from lumping (over-general abstractions) or splitting (over-precise abstractions). the only way to overcome this conundrum is in a purely exemplar/analogy-based system which generalisations are based on similarity individual exemplars. However, move our understanding forward, radical exemplar theory must include clearly specified mechanisms for analogy and...
Abstract The ability to compare plays a key role in how humans learn, but words that describe relations between objects, like comparisons, are difficult learn. We examined children learn size comparison words, and their interpretations of these change across development. One‐hundred‐and‐forty England (36–107 months; 68 girls; majority White) were asked build block structures bigger , longer smaller shorter or taller than an experimenter's. Children most successful with refer increases....