Infants’ fine motor skill, but not gross, predicts concurrent verb comprehension

• In Event: Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Topic - Language, Communication

Abstract

Embodiment perspectives suggest that language processes are influenced by motor experiences and partially rely on sensorimotor systems (Barsalou, 1999, 2008; Pulvermüller, 1999). This is especially true for verbs that modulate activity in neural motor regions in adults and children (Antognini & Daum, 2019, James & Maouene, 2009, Moreno et al., 2015, Pulvermüller, 2005). Research so far shows that motor skills are highly predictive of language development. However, such findings were based on specific types of motor skills and language outcomes that predominately measure noun acquisition (Alcock & Krawczyk, 2010; He et al., 2015; Walle, 2016, Walle & Campos, 2014). Also, whether emerging motor capacities are predictive of early verb vocabulary is still unknown. Such research may have implications for children with Specific Language Impairment who struggle to acquire verbs (Olswang et al., 1997) which is speculated to be linked to motor development (Leonard & Hill, 2014). To address such gaps in the literature, we explored whether infants’ motor skills are predictive of concurrent verb comprehension in the first two years of life. In line with recent recommendations (i.e., Gonzalez et al., 2019), we further investigated if specific motor skills (i.e., fine or gross) were independently associated with verb comprehension.

Caregivers completed an online survey for 82 infants aged between 6- and 24-months-old. We aimed to collect data from infants who were at the onset of word understanding through to those in their second year of life when a steep vocabulary growth typically occurs. Infants’ word comprehension was assessed using the Oxford Communicative Development Inventory questionnaire (Hamilton et al., 2000) with an additional 17 verbs included relating to actions that infants begin to produce early in development. Motor skills were measured using the Early Motor Questionnaire (Libertus & Landa, 2013). To test whether infants’ motor scores predicted verb comprehension, we used a logit mixed model with motor scores as a fixed effect to model the probability of a verb being comprehended. We controlled for infant age and fit random intercepts for each verb nested within infants to account for between-item variability as well as between-participant variability. The results showed that higher EMQ motor scores predicted an increased probability of verbs being reported as comprehended, when controlling for age. A follow-up analysis, with infants’ fine and gross motor scores as separate fixed effects, revealed that fine motor skills significantly predicted verb comprehension. No effect was found for gross motor skills. Overall, we found that infants’ motor skills predicted the concurrent acquisition of verbs. These findings support embodiment perspectives that propose action-based language and motor experiences are intertwined during development. Unlike previous research, we found that fine motor skills, but not gross, uniquely predicted verb comprehension. These findings demonstrate the importance of including verbs in this line of research and suggest that different types of language may be bolstered by different types of motor experiences.

Authors

• Kelsey Frewin, Cardiff University
  Presenting Author

• Chiara Gambi, Cardiff University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ross E Vanderwert, Cardiff University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah A Gerson, Cardiff University
  Non-Presenting Author