The link between maternal and child verbal abilities: An indirect effect through maternal responsiveness

Language abilities in early childhood show stability over time and play an important role in the development of other cognitive processes. Identifying modifiable environmental risk factors is important to informing prevention and early intervention efforts. Maternal verbal ability has been previously linked to child verbal ability. The current study examined whether maternal and child verbal abilities were linked indirectly through early childhood maternal responsiveness. Data come from a longitudinal birth cohort study. Participants included 133 mothers and their children recruited from maternity wards shortly after birth. Maternal verbal ability was measured using the Vocabulary subtest from the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, Second Edition (child age 8 months). Child verbal ability was assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (36 months). A latent maternal responsiveness variable was estimated using three developmentally sensitive indicators; one during infancy (child age 8 months) and two when children were 36 months. Results of a structural equation model indicated a significant indirect effect from maternal verbal abilities to child verbal abilities through maternal responsiveness. This indirect path was significant even after inclusion of another indirect path from maternal executive functioning to child verbal ability through maternal responsiveness (which was not significant). Future studies will benefit from experimental, genetically sensitive and/or cross‐lagged designs to allow for conclusions related to directionality and causality. This body of research has implications for the study of the intergenerational transmission of verbal abilities and associated skills, behaviours and adaptive outcomes.     

Statistical learning of multiple speech streams: A challenge for monolingual infants

Language acquisition depends on the ability to detect and track the distributional properties of speech. Successful acquisition also necessitates detecting changes in those properties, which can occur when the learner encounters different speakers, topics, dialects, or languages. When encountering multiple speech streams with different underlying statistics but overlapping features, how do infants keep track of the properties of each speech stream separately? In four experiments, we tested whether 8‐month‐old monolingual infants (N = 144) can track the underlying statistics of two artificial speech streams that share a portion of their syllables. We first presented each stream individually. We then presented the two speech streams in sequence, without contextual cues signaling the different speech streams, and subsequently added pitch and accent cues to help learners track each stream separately. The results reveal that monolingual infants experience difficulty tracking the statistical regularities in two speech streams presented sequentially, even when provided with contextual cues intended to facilitate separation of the speech streams. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding how infants learn and separate the input when confronted with multiple statistical structures.     

孤独感和手机成瘾的关系:一项元分析

孤独感与手机成瘾均是当下生活中较为常见的现象, 诸多研究基于不同的理论视角探讨了两者间的内在联系, 但研究结果却存在很大分歧。为明确两者之间的整体关系, 以及产生分歧的原因, 对检索后获得的121项研究(124个效应值)使用随机效应模型进行了元分析。结果发现:孤独感与手机成瘾存在中等程度的正相关(r = 0.25, 95% CI = [0.23, 0.27]); 两者的相关性受被试年龄群体的调节, 成年人群体中的相关系数显著高于青少年群体, 但两者的相关性不受性别、孤独感和手机成瘾测量工具的影响。结果表明孤独感与手机成瘾关系密切, 支持了补偿性网络使用理论和自我调节缺陷模型。未来应加强纵向研究或实验研究进一步揭示孤独感与手机成瘾的作用方向。     

统计学习的认知神经机制及其与语言的关系

统计学习是指个体在连续刺激流中发现转移概率等统计规律的过程, 在Saffran等(1996)的经典婴儿语音切分研究中首次被提出。大量研究证实了统计学习的普遍存在, 近期学界开始关注统计学习的特异性及其对认知的影响, 尤其是从学习过程及其特异性两个方面阐述统计学习的认知神经机制并揭示其和语言的交互作用。未来应从脑和行为的多模态数据视角, 丰富统计学习结果的行为和神经指标, 考察不同类型统计学习过程的动态神经活动模式, 建立统计学习行为和脑的关联, 深化对统计学习认知神经机制的认识, 在统计学习与语言交互作用的基础上, 从成人二语学习切入结合音乐统计学习训练探讨促进语言学习的统计学习干预手段。     

语言差异对跨通道情绪启动效应的影响

采用跨通道启动范式,探讨言语与面孔情绪加工的相互影响效应,以及语言差异（母语：汉语;非母语：英语）在其中的影响作用。实验1以言语情绪词为启动刺激,面孔情绪为目标刺激,结果发现,相比于英语启动刺激条件,在汉语启动刺激条件下的面孔情绪判断具有更好的表现;在积极情绪启动条件下,言语情绪刺激能够启动面孔情绪刺激。实验2以面孔情绪为启动刺激,言语情绪词为目标刺激,结果发现,相比于英语目标刺激条件,在汉语目标刺激条件下的言语情绪判断具有更好的表现;在积极情绪启动条件下,面孔情绪刺激能够启动言语情绪刺激。研究结果表明,言语情绪与面孔情绪的加工能够相互影响,但这种相互关系仅表现在积极情绪启动条件下。此外,母语和非母语在情绪功能上具有差异性。     

高低水平汉英二语者阅读难易英语句子的知觉广度

通过考察高、低水平汉英二语者阅读难易英语句子的知觉广度,本研究发现二语水平和句子难度调节汉英二语者的英语阅读速度,但不影响其阅读知觉广度,均表现为注视词左侧1个词至右侧1个词。该结果表明汉英二语者采用相对固定的注意分配策略来阅读英语,与中央凹加工负荷假说不一致。     

偏侧化颜色范畴知觉不依赖于语言?

本研究探讨了偏左脑颜色范畴知觉依赖于语言还是范畴。三组被试分别完成无干扰、语言加工干扰和范畴加工干扰视觉搜索任务。结果发现：无干扰组、语言加工干扰组和范畴加工干扰组的视觉搜索任务中分别出现了偏左脑颜色范畴知觉、左脑劣势颜色范畴知觉和无偏侧化颜色范畴知觉。此结果表明,偏左脑颜色范畴知觉可能主要是语言范畴作为一种范畴对颜色知觉的影响效应,但语言范畴的语言属性也会对颜色知觉产生影响。     

Development of rules and strategies: balancing the old and the new

The experiments described in the lead articles replicate findings from previous studies of development of knowledge about balance scales, add several new findings, and raise four key questions: (a) How can rule use best be assessed? (b) How can we reconcile systematic use of rules with variable use of strategies? (c) When do children begin to use rules? and (d) How do children generate new rules? In this Reflection, we summarize current understanding of development of knowledge about balance scales and consider each of the four questions.     

Recency effects for meaning and form in word selection

Three experiments examined the contribution of phonological availability in selecting words as predicted by interactive activation models of word production. Homophonous words such as week and weak permitted a word's phonological form to be activated on priming trials without selection of its meaning or lemma. Recent production of a homophone failed to significantly increase production of its twin as a sentence completion. However, speakers were significantly more likely to complete a sentence with a recently read or generated unambiguous word. This increase in response probability was unaffected by word frequency. The results constrain the degree to which experience and phonological availability may affect word selection in spoken language production.