Thesis supervisor: István Winkler
Location of studies (in Hungarian): MTA TTK, Kognitív Idegtudományi és Pszichológiai Intézet Abbreviation of location of studies: MTA
Description of the research topic:
Healthy human infants brought up in a functional family learn to understand and produce speech. However, the developmental trajectory of language acquisition shows considerable variance. Can we predict the timing and quality of language acquisition from measures taken from preverbal infants and their mothers?
From genetic inheritance to socioeconomic status a large number of variables affect language acquisition. We take an intermediate-level approach by measuring infants’ electric brain responses to speech stimuli at critical time points together with behavioral measures, medical and socioeconomic data. Brain measures have three important advantages over behavioral responses alone: they a) can be repeatedly assessed for the same stimuli irrespective of the infant’s developing behavioral capabilities (allowing characterization of neurocognitive development), b) provide an overview of how infants process speech (not only of the infants’ reaction to a given situation), and c) promote neuroscientific interpretation of the results. Recent developments in analyzing the brain’s response to continuous speech (some only tested in adults) offer an opportunity for this.
Infants will be followed from birth to 18 months, measuring their response to speech. In parallel, the mother’s speech and mother-infant interactions requiring joint attention will also be assessed. Additionally, two hypotheses regarding the effects of the efficiency and use of infant directed speech on language acquisition will be tested: whether infant-directed speech helps phoneme acquisition and/or semantic learning through ostensive cues. Finally, the maturation of functional brain networks involved in processing speech will be followed.
Kuhl, P., & Rivera-Gaxiola, M. (2008). Neural substrates of language acquisition. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 31, 511-534.
Morales, M., Mundy, P., Delgado, C. E. F., Yale, M., Messinger, D., Neal, R., et al. (2000). Responding to joint attention across the 6- through 24-month age period and early language acquisition. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 21, 283-298.
Thiessen, E. D., Hill, E., A.,& Saffran, J. R. (2005). Infant-directed speech facilitates word segmentation. Infancy, 7(1), 53-71.
Kooijman,V., Hagoort, P., & Cutler, A. (2005). Electrophysiological evidence for prelinguistic infants' word recognition in continuous speech. Cognitive Brain Research, 24, 109-116.
Required language skills: English Number of students who can be accepted: 1
Deadline for application: 2019-05-31
2024. IV. 17. ODT ülés Az ODT következő ülésére 2024. június 14-én, pénteken 10.00 órakor kerül sor a Semmelweis Egyetem Szenátusi termében (Bp. Üllői út 26. I. emelet).
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