ERIC Number: EJ1124477
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Jan
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1467-7687
EISSN: N/A
The Influence of Bilingualism on the Preference for the Mouth Region of Dynamic Faces
Ayneto, Alba; Sebastian-Galles, Nuria
Developmental Science, v20 n1 e12446 Jan 2017
Bilingual infants show an extended period of looking at the mouth of talking faces, which provides them with additional articulatory cues that can be used to boost the challenging situation of learning two languages (Pons, Bosch & Lewkowicz, 2015). However, the eye region also provides fundamental cues for emotion perception and recognition, as well as communication. Here, we explored whether the adaptations resulting from learning two languages are specific to linguistic content or if they also influence the focus of attention when looking at dynamic faces. We recorded the eye gaze of bilingual and monolingual infants (8- and 12-month-olds) while watching videos of infants and adults portraying different emotional states (neutral, crying, and laughing). When looking at infant faces, bilinguals looked longer at the mouth region as compared to monolinguals regardless of age. However, when presented with adult faces, 8-month-old bilingual infants looked longer at the mouth region and less at the eye region compared to 8-month-old monolingual infants, but no effect of language exposure was found at 12 months of age. These findings suggest that the bias to the mouth region in bilingual infants at 8 months of age can be generalized to other audiovisual dynamic faces that do not contain linguistic information. We discuss the potential implications of such bias in early social and communicative development.
Descriptors: Bilingualism, Infants, Cues, Visual Stimuli, Eye Movements, Monolingualism, Age Differences, Video Technology, Emotional Response, Human Body, Adults, Language Acquisition
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A