New tools for new questions: a multi-site approach to studying the development of selective attention in crib bilinguals

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Language development is shaped by the language that infants experience from families and caregivers. Much of our knowledge about early language and speech development is based on infants experiencing only one language (monolinguals), usually English. However, most infants around the world, and many in the United States, regularly experience more than one language at birth (bilinguals). Research must give more attention to the role of bilingual experience in order to better explain early language development. Bilingual children and adults differ from monolinguals in several ways. For example, bilinguals tend to have smaller vocabularies than monolinguals, but they are better at a wide range of general cognitive control skills. These skills include the ability to attend to one thing while ignoring something else (e.g., pay attention to a person's voice while music is playing), and to shift attention between different objects or events. If these differences are present even in young learners, they might have important implications for how these children learn language. New research suggests that some of the effects of bilingualism may be present even in infancy; bilingually-exposed infants show some enhanced cognitive control skills. To better understand how being bilingual changes an infant's cognitive abilities, the current project examines the processing abilities of infants within their first year of life, comparing infants exposed to one versus two languages. We also compare infants exposed to three different specific language combinations. Specifically, we ask the following questions: does bilingual exposure affect how well infants can focus on words while ignoring background sounds? Does it enable infants to better learn new patterns even in the presence of distracting information? Among bilingual infants, is there an advantage if the two languages are very similar vs. very distinct from one another? To address these questions, the project also develops a new, innovative testing system that enables running the same studies in multiple locations, for improved access to diverse language populations. Parents, early childhood educators, early intervention specialists, policy makers, and researchers all benefit by improved understanding of the potential influences of bilingual experience during infancy. The new knowledge created by the current project will directly benefit basic research on speech and language development. Undergraduate and graduate student learning and training will be enhanced through mentored research experience at four different institutions. The new testing system will be available for download from a public website, increasing access to and opportunities for participation in research and thus advancing knowledge and scientific discovery. The discoveries from the current project will provide evidence for improving decisions by parents and caregivers interacting with bilingual infants, and will suggest recommendations for policies related to language, caregiving, and education.