MSGID: 1:317/3 649e5a81   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Babies talk more around human-made objects than natural ones    
      
     Date:   
         June 29, 2023   
     Source:   
         University of Portsmouth   
     Summary:   
         A new study suggests young children are more vocal when interacting   
         with toys and household items, highlighting their importance for   
         developing language skills.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   Researchers have found infants are significantly more likely to use   
   "baby talk" during interactions that involve artificial objects compared   
   to natural ones.   
      
   Infants often communicate with protophones, which are sounds resembling   
   squeals, growls or short word-like noises such as "da," "aga" and   
   "ba." These are considered the foundations of speech, as they eventually   
   evolve into full language.   
      
   Objects play an important role in this process, as the more vocalisation   
   an object encourages, the closer a young child is to talking.   
      
   A new study, led by the University of Portsmouth, has looked at the   
   relationship between protophones and things typically found at home to   
   assess their importance for developing language skills.   
      
   To do this, the team observed how often children aged 4 to 18 months   
   who live in Zambia vocalised when using toys and household items, and   
   then compared it to how they interacted with natural objects.   
      
   They discovered the amount of protophones produced by the younger infants   
   was significantly higher when engaging with human-made objects, compared   
   to sticks, leaves, rocks and bird feathers.   
      
   They also found the children were more interested in household items --   
   such as mugs, shoes, and pens -- when given the choice between them and   
   natural objects.   
      
   Lead author, Dr Violet Gibson from the University of Portsmouth's   
   Department of Psychology, said: "Our findings suggest that object features   
   have an impact on the way in which young children communicate.   
      
   "Here, we observed that natural objects were less likely to encourage   
   infants to produce protophones, and as a consequence they may not promote   
   language skill development as much as artificial objects.   
      
   "Preverbal infants seem to favour household items, possibly because   
   their features are designed for specific functional purposes, or in   
   the case of toys, they're designed to get a child's attention and spark   
   their interest.   
      
   "This supports existing evidence that the use of complex tools in   
   social interactions may have contributed to establishing the groundwork   
   required for the emergence of human language."  The paper, published in   
   Nature's Scientific Reports, says that the ways in which parents engage   
   with children when they interact with objects differs across cultures,   
   but the researchers found no indication that the examined behaviour of   
   the mothers' affected the amount of protophones produced.   
      
   Co-author, Developmental Psychologist Dr Eszter Somogyi, added: "It is   
   important to understand to what extent protophones are promoted in a   
   natural environment from an evolutionary perspective, because of their   
   ties to language skills and development.   
      
   "Some argue that vocal language about human-made tools may have led to   
   a number of important advancements for our ancestors, including speech   
   evolution and a surge in manufacturing more sophisticated objects."   
   The study also examined whether children show more social gazing when   
   using natural or artificial objects, as it's one of the first avenues of   
   early communication. The researchers found differences in the infants'   
   looking behaviours between the two object types, suggesting that object   
   features also shape nonvocal communication.   
      
   "The infants in this study gazed at the mothers significantly more often   
   when using natural objects compared to the household items, particularly   
   at a young age," explained Dr Gibson.   
      
   "It might be because they're far less interested in natural objects, and   
   look to their parents to assess their value."  Co-author, Developmental   
   Psychologist and Linguist Dr Iris Nomikou, added: "Just like protophones,   
   social gazing supports learning as it gives an infant an opportunity to   
   flag to a parent or carer that they're not sure about something they see."   
   There is some evidence suggesting that object-based communication is not   
   limited to humans, and that object-based signals may be more significant   
   than first thought.   
      
   The University of Portsmouth team also observed similar behaviours in   
   chimpanzees. A new study, published in Animal Cognition, found evidence   
   they use objects in diverse ways to communicate with each other, and   
   this may be shaped by social factors.   
      
   The authors observed that chimpanzees not only use objects in their   
   broader social interactions but also use them in targeted ways to   
   communicate with one another.   
      
   Co-author, Dr Marina Davila Ross, Reader in Comparative Psychology at   
   the University of Portsmouth, said: "There is a lot in common in terms   
   of how individuals, both human and animal, make use of the physical   
   world to communicate.   
      
   "Both studies have contributed to the theory that objects have a   
   significant impact in how communication skills are developed -- but what   
   is unique about them is the analysis of interactions with natural objects.   
      
   "This opens an interesting new door in language evolution research,   
   and hopefully what we learned will contribute to future research on   
   communication across different species and human cultures."  The team   
   recommends a more detailed analysis of facial changes to further   
   explore the relationship between objects and infant behaviour, as well   
   as classifying objects based on colour, size and shape rather than just   
   natural and artificial.   
      
   They also suggest it would be interesting to further compare this   
   behaviour with less social species than chimpanzees.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Mind_&_Brain   
                   # Child_Development # Child_Psychology #   
                   Learning_Disorders # Language_Acquisition #   
                   Social_Psychology # Relationships # Psychology #   
                   Infant_and_Preschool_Learning   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Great_Ape_language o Developmental_psychology o   
             Psycholinguistics o Asperger_syndrome o Mental_retardation o   
             Early_childhood_education o Hyperactivity o Hearing_impairment   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Portsmouth. Note:   
   Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Violet Gibson, Eszter Somogyi, Iris Nomikou, Derry Taylor, Beatriz   
         Lo'pez, Innocent Chitalu Mulenga, Marina Davila-Ross. Preverbal   
         infants produce more protophones with artificial objects   
         compared to natural objects. Scientific Reports, 2023; 13 (1)   
         DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36734-9   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629125727.htm   
      
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