Visual language discrimination in infancy.
This study shows that 4- and 6-month-old infants can discriminate languages (English from French) just from viewing silently presented articulations. By the age of 8 months, only bilingual (French-English) infants succeed at this task. These findings reveal a surprisingly early preparedness for visual language discrimination and highlight infants' selectivity for retaining only necessary perceptual sensitivities.
Weikum
Whitney M
WM
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada. whitney@psych.ubc.ca
Vouloumanos
Athena
A
Navarra
Jordi
J
Soto-Faraco
Salvador
S
Sebastián-Gallés
Núria
N
Werker
Janet F
JF
D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D019303:Multilingualism; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*