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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
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Symbolic play provides a fertile context for language development.
Noëlie Creaghe1,2, Sara Quinn1, Evan Kidd1,2,3,4
1Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Summary
Symbolic play enhances infant language acquisition by promoting conversational turn-taking and specific speech patterns. This type of play, unlike functional play, fosters crucial communicative behaviors for early language development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
- Child Development
Background:
- Symbolic play's role in cognitive and language development is increasingly recognized.
- The ambiguous nature of symbolic play may elicit unique communicative interactions.
- Understanding these interactions is key to optimizing early language acquisition strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether symbolic play provides a beneficial context for language acquisition compared to functional play.
- To identify specific communicative behaviors elicited by symbolic play that correlate with language development.
- To test the hypothesis that meaning negotiation in symbolic play drives positive language outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 54 infant-caregiver dyads at 18 and 24 months.
- Two play sessions (symbolic vs. functional toys) were recorded and transcribed.
- Dyadic interactions and infant language proficiency (parental report) were coded and analyzed.
Main Results:
- Symbolic play significantly increased conversational turn-taking compared to functional play.
- Infant-directed speech (IDS) in symbolic play featured more questions and mimetics; caregivers used more imperatives in functional play.
- Symbolic play features (turn-taking, questions, mimetics) positively correlated with language proficiency, while functional play features (imperatives) negatively correlated.
Conclusions:
- Symbolic play serves as a fertile ground for language acquisition, driven by the need to negotiate meaning.
- Specific interactive features of symbolic play are directly linked to enhanced infant language skills.
- Findings support the hypothesis that the unique communicative demands of symbolic play foster language development.
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