An Integrated Perspective on Spatio-Temporal Attention and Infant Language Acquisition
Efficiency in the early ability to switch attention toward competing visual stimuli (spatial attention) may be linked to future ability to detect rapid acoustic changes in linguistic stimuli (temporal attention). To test this hypothesis, we compared individual performances in the same cohort of Ital...
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doaj-167dd4afe1f048548fd82cb7234f000a2021-02-09T00:02:11ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1661-78271660-46012021-02-01181592159210.3390/ijerph18041592An Integrated Perspective on Spatio-Temporal Attention and Infant Language AcquisitionSofia Russo0Giulia Calignano1Marco Dispaldro2Eloisa Valenza3Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, ItalyDepartment of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, ItalyRegionale Beratungs- und Unterstützungszentren (ReBUZ), 28213 Bremen, GermanyDepartment of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, ItalyEfficiency in the early ability to switch attention toward competing visual stimuli (spatial attention) may be linked to future ability to detect rapid acoustic changes in linguistic stimuli (temporal attention). To test this hypothesis, we compared individual performances in the same cohort of Italian-learning infants in two separate tasks: (i) an overlap task, measuring disengagement efficiency for visual stimuli at 4 months (Experiment 1), and (ii) an auditory discrimination task for trochaic syllabic sequences at 7 months (Experiment 2). Our results indicate that an infant’s efficiency in processing competing information in the visual field (i.e., visuospatial attention; Exp. 1) correlates with the subsequent ability to orient temporal attention toward relevant acoustic changes in the speech signal (i.e., temporal attention; Exp. 2). These results point out the involvement of domain-general attentional processes (not specific to language or the sensorial domain) playing a pivotal role in the development of early language skills in infancy.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1592language acquisitiontemporal attentioninfancydevelopmentpreverbaloverlap |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Sofia Russo Giulia Calignano Marco Dispaldro Eloisa Valenza |
spellingShingle |
Sofia Russo Giulia Calignano Marco Dispaldro Eloisa Valenza An Integrated Perspective on Spatio-Temporal Attention and Infant Language Acquisition International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health language acquisition temporal attention infancy development preverbal overlap |
author_facet |
Sofia Russo Giulia Calignano Marco Dispaldro Eloisa Valenza |
author_sort |
Sofia Russo |
title |
An Integrated Perspective on Spatio-Temporal Attention and Infant Language Acquisition |
title_short |
An Integrated Perspective on Spatio-Temporal Attention and Infant Language Acquisition |
title_full |
An Integrated Perspective on Spatio-Temporal Attention and Infant Language Acquisition |
title_fullStr |
An Integrated Perspective on Spatio-Temporal Attention and Infant Language Acquisition |
title_full_unstemmed |
An Integrated Perspective on Spatio-Temporal Attention and Infant Language Acquisition |
title_sort |
integrated perspective on spatio-temporal attention and infant language acquisition |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
issn |
1661-7827 1660-4601 |
publishDate |
2021-02-01 |
description |
Efficiency in the early ability to switch attention toward competing visual stimuli (spatial attention) may be linked to future ability to detect rapid acoustic changes in linguistic stimuli (temporal attention). To test this hypothesis, we compared individual performances in the same cohort of Italian-learning infants in two separate tasks: (i) an overlap task, measuring disengagement efficiency for visual stimuli at 4 months (Experiment 1), and (ii) an auditory discrimination task for trochaic syllabic sequences at 7 months (Experiment 2). Our results indicate that an infant’s efficiency in processing competing information in the visual field (i.e., visuospatial attention; Exp. 1) correlates with the subsequent ability to orient temporal attention toward relevant acoustic changes in the speech signal (i.e., temporal attention; Exp. 2). These results point out the involvement of domain-general attentional processes (not specific to language or the sensorial domain) playing a pivotal role in the development of early language skills in infancy. |
topic |
language acquisition temporal attention infancy development preverbal overlap |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1592 |
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