Magpies Blog
Moma is Round and Kipi is Spiky: How Sound Symbolism Can Support Infant Language Learning
Written by: Caiti Farquharson
November 2022
Psychology & Linguistics Student at University of Alberta
One of our current studies at the Little Magpies Lab explores how infants can use sound-meaning links to learn new words. Read more about the connection between infant language learning and sound symbolism at the link below.
Introduction to Child and Infant Research Participation - What is ChIRP?
Written by: Rachel Tu
August 2022
MSc-SLP student at University of Alberta
Are you interested in participating in research but are unsure where to start? Check out this blog post written by one of our students that outlines ChIRP and how to get involved!
Research Methods in Development Psychology
By Angela Lukowski and Helen Milojevich
University of Calfornia, Irvine
Are you interested in the methods infant researchers use? Here is a wonderful blog post.
Are you interested in the methods infant researchers use? Here is a wonderful blog post.
Check out this great podcast by "Speaking of Psychology!"
Episode 129— How children’s amazing brains shaped humanity
Discover Dr. Alison Gopnik's research on how we think about the purpose of childhood, how we raise and educate our children, the role of grandparents in teaching the next generation, and even how we might develop artificial intelligence systems inspired by children’s remarkable learning abilities.
https://www.apa.org/research/action/speaking-of-psychology/childrens-amazing-brains
Take a look at these awesome articles on child language acquisition!
Kids Picking Up Mother Tongue in Quarantine
Discover how the COVID-19 quarantine has led to the acquisition of German in a 3-year-old who was previously only willing to speak English.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/parenting/family-second-language-coronavirus.html
How we learn words and sentences at the same time
Discover how researchers at Lancaster University have been analyzing the two problems of language that young children have to solve: 1. the need to work out which sounds group together to form words and what these words mean and 2. the need to understand how those words go together in sentences.
https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/how-we-learn-words-and-sentences-at-the-same-time
Children use Both Brain Hemispheres to Understand Language, Unlike Adults
Discover why Georgetown University Medical Center neuroscientists believe that infants and young children have brains with a superpower.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200907163333.htm
Babbling Babies and Infant Directed Speech
Discover how researchers at the University of Washington and University of Connecticut have demonstrated new findings that show that what drives early language development is not so much the quantity of words, as it is the style of speech and social context in which speech occurs.
Parentese
Discover how speaking in a particular style that draws baby’s attention helps them to make ‘conversation’ and boosts their language development.
Brains Pre-wired to Read Words
Discover how researchers at Ohio State University have found evidence that humans are born with a part of the brain that is prewired to be receptive to seeing words and letters, setting the stage at birth for people to learn how to read.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201022125525.htm