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Investigating Social Cognition in Infants and Adults Using Dense Array Electroencephalography dEEG
Published on: June 27, 2011
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Infant cognition includes the potentially human-unique ability to encode embedding
M Winkler1,2, J L Mueller1,3, A D Friederici1
1Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstr. 1a, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Science Advances
|November 27, 2018
Summary
Five-month-old infants can process complex nested structures, demonstrating an early capacity for understanding embedding. This suggests that the ability to encode nested relations is a foundational aspect of human cognition.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Human cognition involves encoding complex regularities, including embedding (nested relations).
- Evidence for the developmental origins of embedding processing in humans is limited.
- Comparative studies suggest embedding processing is a human-specific cognitive ability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the ontogenesis of embedding processing in human infants.
- To assess 5-month-olds' ability to detect violations in nested auditory sequences.
- To determine if infants can track nested relations, a key feature of complex regularities.
Main Methods:
- Utilized auditory oddball paradigms with tone sequences featuring one or two levels of embedding.
- Minimized perceptual and memory load to isolate the processing of nested structures.
- Measured brain responses (brain potentials) to standard and deviant sequences in 5-month-old infants.
Main Results:
- Infants demonstrated brain responses indicative of detecting violations in embedded sequences.
- The results suggest that 5-month-olds can track nested relations in auditory input.
- This ability was observed even with simplified perceptual and memory demands.
Conclusions:
- The capacity to encode embedding is present in early infancy.
- This foundational ability may underpin the later acquisition of complex linguistic and musical structures.
- Embedding processing appears to be an innate component of human cognitive architecture.
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