Cognitive gains in 7-month-old bilingual infants
Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati · Harvard University Press · +1 more institution
Abstract
Children exposed to bilingual input typically learn 2 languages without obvious difficulties. However, it is unclear how preverbal infants cope with the inconsistent input and how bilingualism affects early development. In 3 eye-tracking studies we show that 7-month-old infants, raised with 2 languages from birth, display improved cognitive control abilities compared with matched monolinguals. Whereas both monolinguals and bilinguals learned to respond to a speech or visual cue to anticipate a reward on one side of a screen, only bilinguals succeeded in redirecting their anticipatory looks when the cue began signaling the reward on the opposite side. Bilingual infants rapidly suppressed their looks to the…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 25.64
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 33
Authors
2Topics & keywords
- Neuroscience of multilingualism
- Cognition
- Psychology
- Language development
- Cognitive development
- Control (management)
- Cognitive psychology
- Developmental psychology
- Quality Education