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Related Concept Videos

Language Development01:22

Language Development

Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
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The nativist approach to infant cognitive development proposes that infants are born with inherent knowledge structures that allow them to interpret the world almost immediately. This perspective contrasts with earlier developmental theories, such as those proposed by Jean Piaget, which emphasized a more gradual acquisition of cognitive abilities through interaction with the environment. One key concept in this approach is object permanence — the understanding that objects continue to exist...
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Neurulation is the embryological process which forms the precursors of the central nervous system and occurs after gastrulation has established the three primary cell layers of the embryo: ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. In humans, the majority of this system is formed via primary neurulation, in which the central portion of the ectoderm—originally appearing as a flat sheet of cells—folds upwards and inwards, sealing off to form a hollow neural tube. As development proceeds, the anterior...
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Neuroplasticity reflects the brain's remarkable capacity to adapt and evolve, responding dynamically to learning, experiences, or injury by reorganizing its neural circuitry. This reorganization involves creating new neural connections and refining old ones through a series of biological processes that contribute to the brain's lifelong development and adaptability.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 29, 2026

A Novel Experimental and Analytical Approach to the Multimodal Neural Decoding of Intent During Social Interaction in Freely-behaving Human Infants
11:14

A Novel Experimental and Analytical Approach to the Multimodal Neural Decoding of Intent During Social Interaction in Freely-behaving Human Infants

Published on: October 4, 2015

Neural language networks at birth.

Daniela Perani1, Maria C Saccuman, Paola Scifo

  • 1Faculty of Psychology, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, 20132 Milan, Italy. perani.daniela@hsr.it

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|September 8, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Newborn brains show early language processing in both hemispheres, with right-sided dominance in auditory cortex. While the neural network is active at birth, functional connectivity matures with language exposure.

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Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Published on: April 19, 2017

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Neuroscience
  • Language Acquisition

Background:

  • Language learning is a unique human ability.
  • Adult studies reveal a bilateral frontotemporal network for auditory language, predominantly in the left hemisphere.
  • The innate neural basis for language in newborns remains incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural substrate for spoken language in 2-day-old infants.
  • To compare infant language networks with established adult patterns.
  • To explore the developmental trajectory of functional and structural connectivity in the language network.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized brain imaging techniques to examine neural activity in response to auditory language in neonates.
  • Analyzed both functional and structural connectivity within the frontotemporal network.
  • Contrasted findings in infants with existing data from adult and child studies.

Main Results:

  • The language-related neural network is active bilaterally in 2-day-old infants, with a notable emphasis on the right auditory cortex.
  • Infant neural networks exhibit immature functional and structural connectivity.
  • Connectivity is predominantly interhemispheric in infants, unlike the adult pattern of strong intrahemispheric connections.

Conclusions:

  • Infant brains possess a foundational neural system for processing spoken language at birth.
  • This innate system provides a biological basis for subsequent language acquisition.
  • Maturation of intrahemispheric functional connectivity is dependent on language exposure and continues as the brain develops.