Infant Language and Cognition

Infant Language and Cognition

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Our group investigates the process of early language acquisition, specifically the emergence and consolidation of speech perception and word-learning over monolingual and bilingual infants’ first two years of life, as well as interactions between these early language abilities and the development of general perceptual and cognitive capacities.

The primary aim of this research is to define the earliest determinants of later individual language ability, including but not limited to endogenous factors, such as family risk for developmental language disorders or hearing loss, and environmental factors, such as the quantity and quality of infants’ early language input.

We address these questions through cross-sectional and longitudinal designs that combine neurophysiological (EEG, fNIRS), behavioral (visual preference, eye-tracking), and observational (parent-infant interactions) techniques in the BCBL BabyLab.

Our team

Publications

In press

Kalashnikova, M., Singh, L., Tsui, A., Altuntas, E., Burnham, D., Cannistraci, R., Chin, N.B., Feng, Y., Fernández-Merino, L., Götz, A., Gustavsson, L., Hay, J., Höhle, B., Kager, R., Lai, R., Liu, L., Marklund, E., Nazzi, T., Oliveira, D.S., Olst (In press). The development of tone discrimination in infancy: Evidence from a cross-linguistic, multi-lab report. Developmental Science. Doi:10.1111/desc.13459

2024

Lovcevic, I., Burnham, D., & Kalashnikova, M. (2024). Infants’ Lexical Processing: Independent Contributions of Attentional and Clarity Cues. Language Learning and Development, 20(1), 1-18. Doi:10.1080/15475441.2022.2149402

2023

Bergelson, E., Soderstrom, M., Schwarz, I.C., Rowland, C.F., Ramírez-Esparza, N., Hamrick, L.R., Marklund, E., Kalashnikova, M., Guez, A., Casillas, M., Benetti, L., van Alphen, P., & Cristia, A. (2023). Everyday language input and production in 1,001 children from six continents. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120(52). Doi:10.1073/pnas.2300671120
Brookman, R., Kalashnikova, M., Levickis, P., Conti, J., Rattanasone, N.X., Grant, K.A., Demuth, K., & Burnham, D. (2023). Effects of maternal depression on maternal responsiveness and infants' expressive language abilities. PLoS ONE, 18(1 January). Doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0277762

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