The ‘circumstances’ of gestures: Proto-interrogatives and private gestures

The later Wittgenstein's emphasis on the social usage of language has been very influential in psychology, particularly in language acquisition research. This move toward a pragmatic position should also be applied to gestures in pre-linguistic children and to objects in the everyday contexts of use. The shared ‘forms of life’ presupposed by language involve pre-linguistic gestures and material ‘things’.Research on early communication has focused on proto-declarative and proto-imperative gestures. I extend this focus and propose further types of gestures: ‘proto-interrogatives’ - in which children “ask” for help or regulation from adults, and three types of ‘private gestures’ - ostensive, indexical and symbolic - in which children regulate their own behaviour. This diversity of gestures becomes apparent when objects are taken seriously. Wittgenstein's ‘language-games’ necessarily apply to games with objects and gestures as well: social meaning in all cases is emergent within the context of these ‘sign games’ and ‘circumstances.’     

A time series analysis of the relation between motor skill acquisition and sleep in infancy

To systematically examine the relation between motor milestone onset and disruption of night sleep in infancy, three families kept microgenetic, prospective, daily checklist diaries of their infants’ motor behavior and sleep (197-313 observation days; 19,000 diary entries). Process control and interrupted time series analyses examined whether deviations from the moving average for night wakings and evening sleep duration were temporally linked to motor skill onset and tested for meaningful differences in individual sleep patterns before and after skill onset. Model assumptions defined skill onset as first day of occurrence or as mastery and moving average windows as 3, 7, or 14 days. Changes in infants’ sleep patterns were associated with changing expertise for motor milestones. The temporal relation varied depending on infant and sleep parameter. Intensive longitudinal data collection may increase our understanding of micro-events in infant development.     

The mediational role of executive functions for the relationship between motor ability and academic performance in pediatric cancer survivors

IntroductionPediatric Cancer Survivors (PCS) bear a high risk for late effects within motor abilities (MAs) and executive functions (EFs). In typically developing children, these domains are interrelated and predictors of academic performance. The current study investigated (i) whether MAs and EFs are also interrelated in PCS, and (ii) whether EFs mediate the relation between MAs and academic performance.Methods78 PCS (7–16 years; M = 11.23; SD = 2.49) participated in this study. Three MAs were assessed: coordination and strength (using the German Motor Test) and endurance (using a cycle ergometer test). EFs were assessed: inhibition and cognitive flexibility (Color-Word Interference Test) and working memory (Block Recall test); and academic performance by questionnaire asking for children’s grade point average.ResultsPearson correlations revealed associations of coordination and strength with EFs and associations of all three MAs with academic performance. A multiple regression model revealed that among the three MAs, coordination was the only significant predictor of EFs (β = 0.42, p = .001). Lastly, mediation analyses revealed that the association of MAs with academic performance was mediated by EFs (indirect effect: β = 0.167, p = .003). Regarding individual motor abilities, this was only true for coordination and strength, but not for endurance.ConclusionResults show that MAs and EFs are interrelated in PCS and that EFs mediate the relationship between coordination and strength with academic performance. This may be important for the design of future physical activity interventions to improve MAs, EFs and academic performance.     

Early and persistent motor difficulties in infants at-risk of developing autism spectrum disorder: A prospective study

Analyses were conducted in order to investigate motor development in younger siblings of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Infants at familial risk and low risk of developing ASD were tested longitudinally between the ages of 7 and 36 months. Data were analysed from motor scales on the Mullen Scales of Early Learning and the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales at each age point. Significantly lower motor scores in at-risk infants were evident from the age of 7 months compared to the low-risk group. Infants who were later diagnosed with ASD demonstrated significantly poorer Fine Motor skills at 36 months than at-risk infants without any developmental difficulties. In addition, Gross Motor scores were highly correlated across the two measures for low-risk infants and infants who later developed ASD. Early motor difficulties may be an early indicator of a number of neurodevelopmental disorders, including ASD.     

The relationship between reduplicated babble onset and laterality biases in infant rhythmic arm movements

This study examined changes in rhythmic arm shaking and laterality biases in infants observed longitudinally at three points: just prior to, at, and just following reduplicated babble onset. Infants (ranging in age from 4 to 9 months at babble onset) were videotaped at home as they played with two visually identical audible and silent rattles presented at midline for 1.5 min each. Rate of rattle shaking increased sharply from the pre-babble to the babble onset session; but there was no indication that this increase was specific to the right arm. This finding suggests that the link between babble onset and increased rhythmic arm activity may not be the product of language-specific mechanisms, but is rather part of a broader developmental process that is also perceptual and motor.     

婴儿指示性手势与其语言学习的关系

指示性手势是指明空间中某个物体、处所或事件的手部动作,在婴儿1岁时出现,与婴儿的语言学习存在着较强的相关,然而目前尚不清楚为什么会存在此相关。可能存在两种内在机制:(1)指示性手势影响婴儿的学习环境——引发了适时的语言输入;(2)影响学习者本身——帮助婴儿创造有效的学习状态并示意给他人。未来的研究需要探讨这两种机制如何交互作用,以及如何将指示性手势作为诊断或干预工具,用于识别和帮助有语言障碍风险的个体。     

Infant-directed language following a brief behavioral parenting intervention: The importance of language quality

Behavioral parenting interventions decrease early childhood behavior problems and increase positive parenting skills. However, few studies have examined the impact of low intensity interventions for infants at risk for behavior problems on changes in parent language. This study examined the effect of a brief parenting intervention, the Infant Behavior Program, on changes in parent linguistic input and its influence on infant language. Participants were 58 mothers and their12- to 15-month-olds, with elevated levels of behavioral problems. Mothers and their infants were from primarily Hispanic and low-income backgrounds. Mother-infant dyads were randomly assigned to receive the Infant Behavior Program or standard pediatric primary care. Mothers receiving the Infant Behavior Program provided more linguistic input, which indirectly influenced infant language, and suggest targeting infants at risk for behavior problems can have a broader impact on language development.     

Embodying gestures: The Social Orienting Model and the study of early gestures in autism

Autistic spectrum disorders impair the ability to interact socially. Detecting and understanding their onset is not only an empirical enterprise, but also a theoretical one, often linked to studies on intersubjectivity. Different theoretical perspectives have been elaborated in the past to account for the deficit. The main purpose of this paper is to reinforce and offer empirical grounding to a recent approach, termed Social Orienting Model, by presenting the main theoretical approaches to autism and contrasting them to this view, as well as considering its possible effect on empirical research, focusing on current literature analyzing gestures in children with autism.

The temporal dynamics of first versus second language production

In this study we explored the temporal origin of processing differences between first and second language production. Forty highly proficient bilinguals named objects of high and low lexical frequency aloud for both L1 and L2 separately while event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded. The first electrophysiological differences elicited by response language occurred at the same early P2 peak (∼140–220 ms) where we observed the onset of the lexical frequency effect, but only for those bilinguals who started naming in an L1 context and afterwards switched to an L2 naming context. The bilinguals who named objects in the reverse direction did not display a language effect in the ERPs. Taken together, the data show that the L2 naming disadvantage originates during the onset of lexical access and seems to be driven by both representational strength, which is lower for L2 words, and language control demands, which are higher for L2 words.     

Happy babies,chatty toddlers: Infant positive affect facilitates early expressive,but not receptive language

Eighty-three mother–infant dyads participated in this study. Positive affect (PA) broadly, along with fine-grained aspects of PA, was measured at 10 months of age. Language was measured at 14 months. Infant PA predicted expressive, but not receptive, language. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

The gestural repertoire and its evolution over the second year

The entire repertoire of communicative gestures was documented in a longitudinal, observational study of 10 infants, whose combined ages covered the range from 9 to 22 months. Early in the second year, giving as a request to do something with the object increased, while emotive gestures decreased. Later in the second year, pointing gestures increased, while protest gestures tended to decrease. Combining gestures with vocalization tended to increase only for protest gestures later in the second year. Eye contact showed a small but continuous increase in coordination with gestures over the second year, particularly with comment, request, and emotive gestures. These findings indicate an increasing use of the parent as an agent and of the informative function in non-verbal communication during this period of transition to verbal communication.     

The role of language in acquiring object kind concepts in infancy

Four experiments investigated whether 9-month-old infants could use the presence of labels to help them establish a representation of two distinct objects in a complex object individuation task. We found that the presence of two distinct labels facilitated object individuation, but the presence of one label for both objects, two distinct tones, two distinct sounds, or two distinct emotional expressions did not. These findings suggest that language may play an important role in the acquisition of sortal/object kind concepts in infancy: words may serve as "essence placeholders". Implications for the relationship between language and conceptual development are discussed.     

The role of language in mathematical development: evidence from children with specific language impairments

A sample (n=48) of eight-year-olds with specific language impairments is compared with age-matched (n=55) and language matched controls (n=55) on a range of tasks designed to test the interdependence of language and mathematical development. Performance across tasks varies substantially in the SLI group, showing profound deficits in production of the count word sequence and basic calculation and significant deficits in understanding of the place-value principle in Hindu-Arabic notation. Only in understanding of arithmetic principles does SLI performance approximate that of age-matched-controls, indicating that principled understanding can develop even where number sequence production and other aspects of number processing are severely compromised.     

Associations between gross motor and communicative development in at-risk infants

Infants’ advances in locomotion relate to advances in communicative development. However, little is known about these relations in infants at risk for delays in these domains and whether they may extend to earlier achievements in gross motor development in infancy. We examined whether advances in sitting and prone locomotion are related to communicative development in infants who have an older sibling with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and are at risk for motor and communication delays (heightened-risk; HR). We conducted a longitudinal study with 37 HR infants who did not receive an ASD diagnosis at 36 months. Infants were observed monthly between the ages of 5 and 14 months. We assessed gross motor development using the Alberta Infant Motor Scales (AIMS) and recorded ages of onset of verbal and nonverbal communicative behaviors. Results indicated increased presence of early gross motor delay from 5 to 10 months. In addition, there were positive relations between sitting and gesture and babble onset and between prone development and gesture onset. Thus, links between gross motor development and communication extend to at-risk development and provide a starting point for future research on potential cascading consequences of motor advances on communication development.     

Breastfeeding and motor development: A longitudinal cohort study

BackgroundWhile there is a large body of work supporting the importance of early feeding practices on cognitive, immunity, behavioural and mental outcomes, few longitudinal studies have focused on motor development. The relationship between duration of breast feeding and motor development outcomes at 10, 14, and 17 years were examined.MethodsData were obtained from the Western Australian Pregnancy (Raine) Study. There were 2868 live births recorded and children were examined for motor proficiency at 10 (M = 10.54, SD = 2.27), 14 (M = 14.02, SD = 2.33) and 17 (M = 16.99, SD = 2.97) years using the McCarron Assessment of Neuromuscular Development (MAND). Using linear mixed models, adjusted for covariates known to affect motor development, the influence of predominant breast feeding for <6 months and ⩾6 months on motor development outcomes was examined.ResultsBreast feeding for ⩾6 months was positively associated with improved motor development outcomes at 10, 14 and 17 years of age (p = 0.019, β 1.38) when adjusted for child’s sex, maternal age, alcohol intake, family income, hypertensive status, gestational stress and mode of delivery.ConclusionEarly life feeding practices have an influence on motor development outcomes into late childhood and adolescence independent of sociodemographic factors.     

Schizotypal personality traits and atypical lateralization in motor and language functions

Atypical cerebral lateralization in motor and language functions in regard to schizotypal personality traits in healthy populations, as well as among schizophrenic patients, has attracted attention because these traits may represent a risk factor for schizophrenia. Although the relationship between handedness and schizotypal personality has been widely examined, few studies have adopted an experimental approach. This study consisted of three experiments focusing on motor and language functional lateralization in regard to schizotypal personality in the absence of mental illness: line-drawing, finger tapping, and a semantic go/no-go task. The results suggested that positive schizotypal personality might be related to functional non-lateralization in regard to at least some functions (e.g., spatial motor control and semantic processing in the present study). Subjects with high schizotypal personality traits performed equally with their right and left-hands in the line-drawing task and they reacted equally with their right and left-hands in a semantic go/no-go task involving semantic auditory stimuli presented in both ears. However, those low in schizotypal personality traits showed typical lateralization in response to these tasks. We discuss the implications of these findings for schizotypal atypical lateralization.     

Relations among language exposure, phonological memory, and language development in Spanish-English bilingually developing 2-year-olds

The relation of phonological memory to language experience and development was investigated in 41 Spanish-English bilingual first language learners. The children’s relative exposure to English and Spanish and their phonological memory for English- and Spanish-like nonwords were assessed at 22 months of age, and their productive vocabulary and grammar in both languages were assessed at 25 months of age. Phonological memory for English-like nonwords was highly correlated with that for Spanish-like nonwords, and each was related to vocabulary and grammar in both languages, suggesting a language-general component to phonological memory skill. In addition, there was evidence of language-specific benefits of language exposure to phonological memory skill and of language-specific benefits of phonological memory skill to language development.     

Children's understanding of communicative intentions in the middle of the second year of life

Two tasks were administered to 40 children aged from 16 to 20 months (mean age = 18;1), to evaluate children's understanding of declarative and informative intention [Behne, T., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2005). One-year-olds comprehend the communicative intentions behind gestures in a hiding game. Developmental Science, 8, 492–499; Camaioni, L., Perucchini, P., Bellagamba, F., & Colonnesi, C. (2004). The role of declarative pointing in developing a theory of mind. Infancy, 5, 291–308]. In the first task, children had to respond to the experimenter who pointed at a distal object; in the second task, children had to find a toy in a hiding game after the experimenter indicated the correct location either by pointing or by gazing. In the first task, most children responded to the declarative gesture by “commenting” on the pointed object instead of just looking; however, looking responses were more frequent than commenting responses. In the second task, children chose the correct location of the object significantly more frequently when the informative gesture was the point than when it was the gaze; moreover, there were significantly more correct choices than incorrect choices in the point but not in the gaze condition. Finally, no significant relation was found between tasks. Taken together, the findings support the view that infants’ developing understanding of communicative intention is a complex process in which general cognitive abilities and contextual factors are equally important.     

EEG coherence,joint attention and language development in the second year

Recent research has raised the hypothesis that brain maturation processes may play an important role in the linkage between infant joint attention and language development. This hypothesis was examined using EEG, joint attention and parent report language measures in a longitudinal study of 29 infants assessed at 14, 18 and 24 months of age. The results indicated that both measures of joint attention and EEG coherence at 14 months were related to language development at 24 months. Furthermore, both EEG coherence measures and joint attention measures made contributions to multiple regression equations predicting individual differences in language development. Finally, coherence data from this study were consistent with Thatcher's (1994 ) theory of different patterns of neural integration and differentiation in the early maturation of the left and right hemispheres. The implications of these results for understanding the nature of the relations between joint attention and language development, as well as the utility of EEG coherence measures in developmental neuroscience are discussed.     

Memory for events and locations obtained in the context of elicited imitation: evidence for differential retention in the second year of life

Previous research has suggested that infants may have more robust memory for past experiences relative to memory for locations that have been encountered previously. This assertion, however, primarily results from the comparison of data that were collected using different experimental procedures. In the present study, we examined memory for events and memory for locations in the context of elicited imitation. Specifically, 13-, 16-, and 20-month-old infants were tested for long-term memory for events and locations after between-subjects delays of 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. The results indicated that the event memory was retained over lengthier delays relative to the location memory, despite superior encoding of location information. The possible adaptive significance of long-term memory for events ontogenetically preceding long-term memory for locations is discussed.