Bilingual infants control their languages as they listen
Bilingual infants control their languages as they listen
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1703220114
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发表时间：
2017-08-22
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Lew-Williams, Casey
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Byers-Heinlein, Krista;Morin-Lessard, Elizabeth;Lew-Williams, Casey
在双语家庭中长大的婴儿同时学习两种语言，没有明显的混乱或延迟。然而，支持这一显著成就的机制仍不清楚。在这里，我们表明，婴儿使用语言控制机制，优先激活当前听到的语言在听。在一个自然主义的眼动追踪程序中，双语婴儿在识别用相同语言句子标记的物体时更准确（“找到狗！）比在转换语言的句子（“找到钱！").随着时间的推移，对婴儿瞳孔大小的测量表明，这是由于语言转换期间认知负荷增加所致。然而，语言转换并不总是产生加工困难：转换成本降低或消除时，从非主导语言的优势语言，当它跨越了句子的边界。成年人表现出与婴儿相同的表现模式，即使目标词简单且非常熟悉。我们的研究结果提供了惊人的证据，从婴儿期到成年期，双语监测他们的语言有效的理解。在听力过程中控制两种语言的日常练习很可能解释了以前观察到的双语认知优势。
Infants growing up in bilingual homes learn two languages simultaneously without apparent confusion or delay. However, the mechanisms that support this remarkable achievement remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that infants use language-control mechanisms to preferentially activate the currently heard language during listening. In a naturalistic eye-tracking procedure, bilingual infants were more accurate at recognizing objects labeled in same-language sentences ("Find the dog!") than in switched-language sentences ("Find the chien!"). Measurements of infants' pupil size over time indicated that this resulted from increased cognitive load during language switches. However, language switches did not always engender processing difficulties: the switch cost was reduced or eliminated when the switch was from the nondominant to the dominant language, and when it crossed a sentence boundary. Adults showed the same patterns of performance as infants, even though target words were simple and highly familiar. Our results provide striking evidence from infancy to adulthood that bilinguals monitor their languages for efficient comprehension. Everyday practice controlling two languages during listening is likely to explain previously observed bilingual cognitive advantages across the lifespan.