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Perceptual Narrowing of Linguistic Sign Occurs in the 1st Year of Life
Author(s) -
Palmer Stephanie Baker,
Fais Laurel,
Golinkoff Roberta Michnick,
Werker Janet F.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01715.x
Subject(s) - american sign language , psychology , sign language , perception , linguistics , language acquisition , language development , first language , speech perception , sign (mathematics) , developmental psychology , neuroscience , mathematical analysis , mathematics , philosophy , mathematics education
Over their 1st year of life, infants’“universal” perception of the sounds of language narrows to encompass only those contrasts made in their native language (J. F. Werker & R. C. Tees, 1984). This research tested 40 infants in an eyetracking paradigm and showed that this pattern also holds for infants exposed to seen language—American Sign Language (ASL). Four‐month‐old, English‐only, hearing infants discriminated an ASL handshape distinction, while 14‐month‐old hearing infants did not. Fourteen‐month‐old ASL‐learning infants, however, did discriminate the handshape distinction, suggesting that, as in heard language, exposure to seen language is required for maintenance of visual language discrimination. Perceptual narrowing appears to be a ubiquitous learning mechanism that contributes to language acquisition.