Psychological Science· 2013Q1
Talking to Children Matters
- 1,288citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2013year
Short summary
Infants receiving more child-directed speech showed improved real-time word processing and larger expressive vocabularies by 24 months, with overheard speech having no effect.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Infants with more child-directed speech were more efficient at processing familiar words in real time.
- Child-directed speech at 24 months correlated with larger expressive vocabularies.
- Language-processing efficiency mediated the link between child-directed speech and expressive vocabulary.
- Speech simply overheard by the infant was unrelated to vocabulary development.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Infants differ substantially in their rates of language growth, and slow growth predicts later academic difficulties. In this study, we explored how the amount of speech directed to infants in Spanish-speaking families low in socioeconomic status influenced the development of children's skill in real-time language processing and vocabulary learning. All-day recordings of parent-infant interactions at home revealed striking variability among families in how much speech caregivers addressed to their child. Infants who experienced more child-directed speech became more efficient in processing familiar words in real time and had larger expressive vocabularies by the age of 24 months, although speech simply overheard by the child was unrelated to vocabulary outcomes. Mediation analyses showed that the effect of child-directed speech on expressive vocabulary was explained by infants' language-processing efficiency, which suggests that richer language experience strengthens processing skills that facilitate language growth.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Psychological Science, 2013 · DOI ↗
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Field: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Developmental and Educational PsychologyPsychology