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How symbolic experience shapes children's symbolic flexibility
Emily E Thom1, Catherine M Sandhofer
1California State University, Northridge.
Child Development
|August 22, 2013
Summary
Children with dual-symbolic experience show consistent symbolic flexibility, unlike monolingual children who develop a word preference. This suggests early language exposure shapes symbolic development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Linguistics
Background:
- Children's symbolic flexibility, their ability to use different symbols like words or sounds, is crucial for language acquisition.
- Dual-symbolic experience, such as being bilingual or bimodal, may influence how children develop symbolic understanding.
- Previous research indicates monolingual children develop a preference for words as symbols.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether children with dual-symbolic experience exhibit a word preference similar to monolingual children.
- To explore the impact of unimodal bilingual and bimodal symbolic experiences on children's symbolic flexibility.
- To determine if early symbolic experiences shape the developmental trajectory of symbolic flexibility.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: 95 infants (18-24 months) with monolingual, unimodal bilingual, or bimodal experience were tested on their willingness to accept digitized sounds as referents.
- Experiment 2: 47 infants (24 months) with similar symbolic experiences were tested on their willingness to accept novel words as referents.
- Behavioral observation and referential mapping tasks were employed to assess symbolic flexibility.
Main Results:
- Monolingual children demonstrated a developing preference for words as symbols.
- Children with dual-symbolic experience showed consistent symbolic flexibility, treating both sounds and words as potential referents.
- No significant difference was found in the willingness to accept sounds versus words as referents for children with dual-symbolic experience.
Conclusions:
- The developmental trajectory of symbolic flexibility in young children appears to be influenced by their early symbolic experiences.
- Dual-symbolic exposure may foster sustained symbolic flexibility rather than an early word preference.
- Findings highlight the role of diverse linguistic and symbolic environments in shaping cognitive development.
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