Professor Sandra Waxman identifies how infants first link language and cognition

Listening to language — human or otherwise — is known to boost infant cognition, but Cognitive Psychology Professor Sandra Waxman has identified the first evidence explaining how infants become so acutely attuned to human speech.

In a study published June 1, Waxman and her colleagues used electroencephalography, or EEG, to monitor infants’ neural responses to both lemur calls and human language. They found that by just 4- to 6-months-old, babies’ neural attention while listening to human speech is enhanced, and their attention while listening to lemur calls is suppressed.

“This new evidence is exciting because it permits us to look ‘under the hood,’ to discover how the infant brain is modulated by listening to language,” said Waxman.

Sandra Waxman

These new developmental changes offer insight into how language supports early cognition, as well as how rapidly the infant brain organizes networks for processing speech and language.

Read more about Waxman’s research in Northwestern Now. Read the full paper in the Developmental Science journal.