Back to basics: a bilingual advantage in infant visual habituation

Leher Singh; Charlene S L Fu; Aishah A Rahman; Waseem B Hameed; Shamini Sanmugam; Pratibha Agarwal; Binyan Jiang; Yap Seng Chong; Michael J Meaney; Anne Rifkin-Graboi; Helena Marieke Verkooijen

doi:10.1111/cdev.12271

Back to basics: a bilingual advantage in infant visual habituation

Leher Singh, Charlene S L Fu, Aishah A Rahman, Waseem B Hameed, Shamini Sanmugam, Pratibha Agarwal, Binyan Jiang, Yap Seng Chong, Michael J Meaney, Anne Rifkin-Graboi, , Helena Marieke Verkooijen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Comparisons of cognitive processing in monolinguals and bilinguals have revealed a bilingual advantage in inhibitory control. Recent studies have demonstrated advantages associated with exposure to two languages in infancy. However, the domain specificity and scope of the infant bilingual advantage in infancy remains unclear. In the present study, 114 monolingual and bilingual infants were compared in a very basic task of information processing-visual habituation-at 6 months of age. Bilingual infants demonstrated greater efficiency in stimulus encoding as well as in improved recognition memory for familiar stimuli as compared to monolinguals. Findings reveal a generalized cognitive advantage in bilingual infants that is broad in scope, early to emerge, and not specific to language.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	294-302
Number of pages	9
Journal	Child Development
Volume	86
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12271
Publication status	Published - 31 Jul 2014

Keywords

Child Development
Female
Habituation, Psychophysiologic
Humans
Infant
Male
Multilingualism
Recognition (Psychology)
Visual Perception
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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10.1111/cdev.12271

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title = "Back to basics: a bilingual advantage in infant visual habituation",

abstract = "Comparisons of cognitive processing in monolinguals and bilinguals have revealed a bilingual advantage in inhibitory control. Recent studies have demonstrated advantages associated with exposure to two languages in infancy. However, the domain specificity and scope of the infant bilingual advantage in infancy remains unclear. In the present study, 114 monolingual and bilingual infants were compared in a very basic task of information processing-visual habituation-at 6 months of age. Bilingual infants demonstrated greater efficiency in stimulus encoding as well as in improved recognition memory for familiar stimuli as compared to monolinguals. Findings reveal a generalized cognitive advantage in bilingual infants that is broad in scope, early to emerge, and not specific to language.",

keywords = "Child Development, Female, Habituation, Psychophysiologic, Humans, Infant, Male, Multilingualism, Recognition (Psychology), Visual Perception, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't",

author = "Leher Singh and Fu, {Charlene S L} and Rahman, {Aishah A} and Hameed, {Waseem B} and Shamini Sanmugam and Pratibha Agarwal and Binyan Jiang and Chong, {Yap Seng} and Meaney, {Michael J} and Anne Rifkin-Graboi and Verkooijen, {Helena Marieke}",

note = "{\textcopyright} 2014 The Authors. Child Development {\textcopyright} 2014 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.",

year = "2014",

month = jul,

day = "31",

doi = "10.1111/cdev.12271",

language = "English",

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pages = "294--302",

journal = "Child Development",

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AU - Singh, Leher

AU - Fu, Charlene S L

AU - Rahman, Aishah A

AU - Hameed, Waseem B

AU - Sanmugam, Shamini

AU - Agarwal, Pratibha

AU - Jiang, Binyan

AU - Chong, Yap Seng

AU - Meaney, Michael J

AU - Rifkin-Graboi, Anne

AU - Verkooijen, Helena Marieke

PY - 2014/7/31

Y1 - 2014/7/31

N2 - Comparisons of cognitive processing in monolinguals and bilinguals have revealed a bilingual advantage in inhibitory control. Recent studies have demonstrated advantages associated with exposure to two languages in infancy. However, the domain specificity and scope of the infant bilingual advantage in infancy remains unclear. In the present study, 114 monolingual and bilingual infants were compared in a very basic task of information processing-visual habituation-at 6 months of age. Bilingual infants demonstrated greater efficiency in stimulus encoding as well as in improved recognition memory for familiar stimuli as compared to monolinguals. Findings reveal a generalized cognitive advantage in bilingual infants that is broad in scope, early to emerge, and not specific to language.

AB - Comparisons of cognitive processing in monolinguals and bilinguals have revealed a bilingual advantage in inhibitory control. Recent studies have demonstrated advantages associated with exposure to two languages in infancy. However, the domain specificity and scope of the infant bilingual advantage in infancy remains unclear. In the present study, 114 monolingual and bilingual infants were compared in a very basic task of information processing-visual habituation-at 6 months of age. Bilingual infants demonstrated greater efficiency in stimulus encoding as well as in improved recognition memory for familiar stimuli as compared to monolinguals. Findings reveal a generalized cognitive advantage in bilingual infants that is broad in scope, early to emerge, and not specific to language.

KW - Child Development

KW - Female

KW - Habituation, Psychophysiologic

KW - Humans

KW - Infant

KW - Male

KW - Multilingualism

KW - Recognition (Psychology)

KW - Visual Perception

KW - Journal Article

KW - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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DO - 10.1111/cdev.12271

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SN - 0009-3920

VL - 86

SP - 294

EP - 302

JO - Child Development

JF - Child Development

IS - 1

ER -

Back to basics: a bilingual advantage in infant visual habituation

Abstract

Keywords

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