Early Childhood Development: Early Learning, the Brain and Society

UW Video

17 Jul 201458:00

EducationalLearning

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TLDRDr. Patricia Kuhl, an expert in early childhood development and language acquisition, gives a talk explaining infants' incredible ability to learn language. She describes research showing babies take statistics on the sounds they hear to learn phonetic units of their native language. Social interaction is key - babies don't learn from screens like TV or audio tapes alone. Kuhl explains how new neuroscience tools allow us to measure babies' brains as they process language. She stresses the importance of early learning opportunities to close achievement gaps and have all children reach their potential. Kuhl ends by emphasizing we must work together across disciplines to support children's development.

Takeaways

😀 Infants have an innate ability to discern sounds of all languages until about 6-8 months when their perception becomes attuned to their native language.
😮 Babies take "statistics" on the words and sounds they hear, organizing input based on frequency and patterns.
📈 A baby's skill in discerning native language sounds at 7 months predicts future language development.
😊 Babies prefer "motherese", which helps them learn language by slowing down speed, exaggerating vowels, and simplifying sentences.
🧠 New techniques like EEG and MEG allow researchers to see babies' brains responding to language in action.
👶 Early language exposure in the critical period enables infants to learn the sounds of foreign languages.
😕 Babies don't learn language from screens or audio recordings - social interaction is key.
🎓 Closing the preparation gap requires providing quality early learning opportunities for all children.
🔬 Interdisciplinary research and new neuroscience tools will advance our understanding of early childhood learning.
👥 An "ecosystem" of researchers, policymakers, educators and parents is needed to optimize early childhood education.

Q & A

What are some of the new techniques that allow researchers to study awake baby brains?
-Some new techniques include functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to observe awake human brains solving problems, and magnetoencephalography (MEG) with 306 sensors to measure neuromagnetic fields as neurons work in babies.
How do babies learn the sounds of their native language?
-Babies take statistics on the language input they hear. Around 6-8 months of age, they analyze the distributional frequencies of sounds in the language and develop categories centered on the most frequently occurring sounds.
Why is parentese or infant-directed speech beneficial for language learning?
-Parentese has clearer articulation and vowel stretching which provides cleaner acoustic signals for babies to map sounds. The exaggerated pitch contours also help maintain babies' attention.
How did the study show babies can learn sounds of a foreign language like Mandarin Chinese?
-American babies exposed to 12 25-minute Mandarin sessions learned to discriminate Mandarin sounds as well as Taiwanese babies hearing the language natively for 10 months.
Why didn't babies learn from the audio or DVD language exposures?
-The study suggests social interaction is important for early language learning. Mere exposure without human interaction did not produce learning, indicating the social brain modulates computational learning.
How can early speech perception predict later language skills?
-Brain response measurements to speech sounds at 7.5 months correlated positively with vocabulary size, sentence complexity and length at later ages. Early perception predicts language growth.
What are the benefits of the MEG brain imaging technique?
-MEG allows studying language processing in babies' brains from birth through adulthood. It is completely safe and silent, mapping whole-brain activation on a millisecond timescale.
How can we use research on early learning to help close the achievement gap?
-Studies show reduced early learning opportunities alter brain development. Providing adequate early language and learning experiences levels the playing field so all children can reach their potential.
Why is an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach important for early learning research?
-Insights from neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, education and other fields are needed to fully understand the intricacies of early childhood development and learning.
What role does the social brain play in early language acquisition?
-The social brain determines when it is worthwhile for babies to take in linguistic statistics. Social interaction scaffolds cognitive and computational learning mechanisms.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introduction to the speaker and topic

The host Phyllis Wise introduces the speaker Pat Kuhl, who is an expert in early childhood development and language acquisition. Kuhl will be speaking about how children learn language and the impact of early learning on the brain and society.

05:00

😃 Bill Gates emphasizes the importance of early childhood programs

Bill Gates gives a brief speech highlighting the need for high-quality early childhood programs to give all children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, the support they require in the critical early years.

10:01

😊 Pat Kuhl begins her talk on early language learning

Pat Kuhl starts her talk by explaining she will discuss four main topics: how early learning happens, connecting early development to later outcomes, the developing brain, and the ecosystem around early childhood.

15:02

😯 Babies can discriminate sounds of all languages initially

Kuhl explains that babies are born able to discriminate sounds of all languages, but this ability declines as they tune into the sounds of their native language in the first year of life. She demonstrates this with data on Japanese and American infants' perception of 'r' and 'l' sounds.

20:03

😮 Infants take statistics on language input

Kuhl describes research showing infants perform statistical learning on the language input they receive, organizing it into sound categories. This learning causes them to lose their initial universal sound discrimination abilities.

25:04

🤓 Infant-directed speech assists learning

Kuhl explains how infant-directed speech, with its slower rate, articulation, and pitch contours, provides cleaner acoustic signals for infants to analyze statistically. This assists in their language development.

30:05

🧠 Early speech perception predicts later language

Kuhl presents data demonstrating infants' early speech sound discrimination at 7.5 months, measured by EEG, predicts later language skills at 2 and 3 years. This shows developmental continuity and aids diagnosis.

35:06

😲 Infants can learn foreign sounds if exposed early

Kuhl's lab exposed American infants to Mandarin Chinese sounds at 9 months and found they could learn to distinguish them like Taiwanese infants. This demonstrates the critical period for sound learning.

40:25

🤨 Social interaction affects early learning

Despite the statistical learning abilities, Kuhl found infants did not learn from DVD or audiotape exposure to Mandarin. She concludes social interaction plays a key role in gating early learning.

45:27

🤩 New brain imaging will transform research

Kuhl introduces magnetoencephalography, a new brain imaging technique that will allow studying infant language learning by examining large-scale brain activity and connectivity.

50:28

😌 Conclusion - Early learning is key for development

Kuhl concludes by arguing good early learning opportunities are critical to close achievement gaps and emphasizes collaboration across disciplines to understand early brain development.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡language acquisition

Language acquisition refers to the process by which humans learn and comprehend language, especially as children. It is a central theme in the video, as Dr. Patricia Kuhl discusses research on how babies acquire native and foreign languages. She explains critical periods in development when language learning is optimal, and how early perception abilities predict future language skills.

💡critical period

A critical period refers to specific developmental windows when the brain is primed to acquire certain skills, like language. Dr. Kuhl discusses a critical period for language acquisition before age 7. She explains that as neural networks commit to the properties of a native language, it becomes harder to learn foreign languages later.

💡statistics

Dr. Kuhl explains that babies take statistics on the language input they hear, analyzing distributional frequencies to find where vowels cluster in the acoustic space. This statistical learning allows them to develop vowel categories centered on the most common areas.

💡predict

A key finding is that measures of speech perception at 7.5 months predict later language skills. Infants with better native discrimination at 7.5 months produce more words at later ages. This shows continuity between early development and language acquisition.

💡non-native perception

While native speech perception predicts future language positively, non-native speech perception correlates negatively. Infants still good at non-native sounds at 7.5 months have slower language advancement, as they are still in an early phase treating all speech sounds as identical.

💡social interaction

Dr. Kuhl discusses the importance of social interaction for early language learning. Babies exposed to a foreign language only learn it from live human tutors interacting with them, not through DVDs or audiotapes. This suggests computational learning mechanisms are gated by the social brain.

💡neuroscience

New techniques in neuroscience, like magnetoencephalography, allow researchers to study language and learning by looking at brain activity. Dr. Kuhl discusses advancing tools to examine whole brain systems over development.

💡ecosystem

Dr. Kuhl refers to an ecosystem where basic science informs public policy and practice. Researchers, legislators, educators, and parents all play roles in improving early learning based on scientific evidence.

💡critical period

Dr. Kuhl explains that foreign language instruction should start early, during critical period language learning. Attempts in high school are fighting against teenage biology which makes language acquisition difficult.

💡preparation gap

Gaps in school preparation may result from reduced early learning opportunities. Dr. Kuhl argues intervening in school is too late, and the preparation gap must be closed through better access to early enrichment programs.

Highlights

The development of a new theoretical framework for understanding human behavior.

A groundbreaking experiment that challenged long-held assumptions in the field.

Novel research methodologies that enabled deeper insights into complex phenomena.

Revolutionary findings that overturn decades of previous work in the area.

Cutting-edge statistical techniques that allow more rigorous analysis of data.

Innovative applications of technology to collect and process new forms of data.

Original interdisciplinary approaches combining multiple fields of study.

Answers to previously intractable problems that open up new avenues of research.

Challenging of entrenched dogmas through compelling contradictory evidence.

Proposed mechanisms that shed light on mysterious phenomena.

Elucidation of connections between seemingly disparate ideas or systems.

Synthesis of extensive data into powerful explanatory models.

New understandings with profound implications for improving human life.

Concrete applications of abstract theory to solve real-world problems.

Evidence-based recommendations for policy changes with broad impact.

Transcripts

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