Constraints on the Timing of Infant Cognitive Change: Domain-Specific or Domain-General?

Abstract

Most studies of infant cognition focus on group data from single domains. Yet, without the multidomain testing of the same infants longitudinally, such data cannot be used to evaluate whether the timing of cognitive change occurs in a domain-general or a domain-specific way. We present the results of a longitudinal study pooling data from three European laboratories set up identically. Over 100 healthy, monolingual infants each underwent multi-domain testing at 6 and again at 10 months in six experimental tasks (speech processing, face processing, and action/event processing), as well as a videotaped 3-minute recording of mother/infant dyads in a play session with an identical set of toys. Previous research examined the effects of maternal sensitivity only on general intelligence measures, but our approach is novel in that it assessed dyadic effects on specific cognitive domains, attempting to pinpoint in finer detail the effects of mother-infant dyadic interaction on the timing of cognitive change. Our findings highlight the importance of a multi-domain approach, in that unlike the assumptions drawn from cross-sectional data, our longitudinal study yielded different developmental timing across domains within the same infants. Our results also highlight a crucial difference: at the group level 6-and 10-month-olds display the expected effects found in previous research, but when re-analysed according to mother-child interaction ratings, the quality of dyadic interaction style turned out to subtly foster or delay development in domainspecific and age-specific ways, contributing to the range of individual differences in timing that we observe in cognitive development over the first year of life.

Intelligence as a Developing Function: A Neuroconstructivist Approach

“…Their possible interactive effects with the genetic, neural and cognitive counterparts have been widely described before. The timing of early developmental changes is in fact sensitive to exogenous influences, such as the quality of dyadic interaction and the level of stimulation from the environment [162]. In addition to this, parental attitudes also play a determinant role in engaging the child in those tasks that promote abilities linked to intelligence tests.…”

A Bayesian Meta-Analysis of Infants’ Ability to Perceive Audio-Visual Congruence for Speech

“…Because infants' development of face processing to a greater extent relies on endogenous factors of maturation (cf. Karmiloff-Smith et al, 2010), this may ground infants' audio-visual matching ability to produce the observed stability during early infant development. This explanation would, moreover, accord with findings that highlight the developmental relevance of dyadic reciprocity and social interaction in the process of language acquisition (Franklin et al, 2014;Karmiloff-Smith et al, 2010;Kuhl, 2007;Kuhl, Tsao, & Liu, 2003;Fusaroli, Weed, Fein, & Naigles, 2019;Lopez, Walle, Pretzer, & Warlaumont, 2020).…”

“…Karmiloff-Smith et al, 2010), this may ground infants' audio-visual matching ability to produce the observed stability during early infant development. This explanation would, moreover, accord with findings that highlight the developmental relevance of dyadic reciprocity and social interaction in the process of language acquisition (Franklin et al, 2014;Karmiloff-Smith et al, 2010;Kuhl, 2007;Kuhl, Tsao, & Liu, 2003;Fusaroli, Weed, Fein, & Naigles, 2019;Lopez, Walle, Pretzer, & Warlaumont, 2020). The potential interaction between exogenous and endogenous factors in the development of infants' ability to perceive audio-visual congruence, then, requires further experimental investigation in order to assess how the respective domain-specific processing abilities contribute to the development of multimodal integration.…”

“…Both the absence of a shift in infants' attentional preference for audio-visual congruence and the lack of evidence for perceptual narrowing may be a product of the inherent differences in the developmental properties of infants' processing of speech and faces (de Schonen, Mancini, Camps, Maes, & Laurent, 2005;Karmiloff-Smith et al, 2010). The development of infants' speech processing exhibits a clear exogenous dependency on the linguistic input, whereas that of face processing has fewer degrees of freedom in that caregivers cannot vary the complexity of their facial expressions to the same extent.…”

Beyond Modularisation: The Need of a Socio-Neuro-Constructionist Model of Autism

“…Karmiloff-Smith has argued convincingly towards the importance of exploring the interplay of genetic and social environmental factors in the development of neurodevelopmental disorders (Karmiloff-Smith et al, 2012) and evidence is emerging of the impact of social factors in typical development. For instance, Karmiloff-Smith and colleagues have shown that much of the individual differences in typical infants' cognitive abilities can be accounted for by differences in dyadic interactions (Karmiloff-Smith et al, 2010) and that social aspects, such as socio-economic status, influence brain functional and structural development (Tomalski et al, 2013). This approach, however, has not yet been directly applied to the study of autism and, more crucially, does not, even in typical development research, focus on the role of intersubjectivity in cognitive development.…”