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  1. Brown-Schmidt, Sarah (Ed.)
    Bilingual environments provide a commonplace example of increased complexity and uncertainty. Learning multiple languages entails mastery of a larger and more variable range of sounds, words, syntactic structures, pragmatic conventions, and more complex mapping of linguistic information to objects in the world. Recent research suggests that bilingual learners demonstrate fundamental variation in how they explore and learn from their environment, which may derive from this increased complexity. In particular, the increased complexity and variability of bilingual environments may broaden the focus of learners’ attention, laying a different attentional foundation for learning. In this review, we introduce a novel framework, with accompanying empirical evidence, for understanding how early learners may adapt to a more complex environment, drawing on bilingualism as an example. Three adaptations, each relevant to the demands of abstracting structure from a complex environment, are introduced. Each adaptation is discussed in the context of empirical evidence attesting to shifts in basic psychological processes in bilingual learners. This evidence converges on the notion that bilingual learners may explore their environment more broadly. Downstream consequences of broader sampling for perception and learning are discussed. Finally, recommendations for future research to expand the scientific narrative on the impact of diverse environments on learning are provided. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 22, 2025
  2. Abstract

    Due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, many children receive language input through face coverings. The impact of face coverings for children's abilities to understand language remains unclear. Past research with monolingual children suggests that hearing words through surgical masks does not disrupt word recognition, but hearing words through transparent face shields proves more challenging. In this study, we investigated effects of different face coverings (surgical masks and transparent face shields) on language comprehension in bilingual children. Three‐year‐old English‐Mandarin bilingual children (N = 28) heard familiar words in both English and Mandarin spoken through transparent face shields, surgical masks, and without masks. When tested in English, children recognized words presented without a mask and through a surgical mask, but did not recognize words presented with transparent face shields, replicating past findings with monolingual children. In contrast, when tested in Mandarin, children recognized words presented without a mask, through a surgical mask, and through a transparent face shield. Results are discussed in terms of specific properties of English and Mandarin that may elicit different effects for transparent face shields. Overall, the present findings suggest that face coverings, and in particular, surgical masks do not disrupt spoken word recognition in young bilingual children.

     
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  3. Abstract

    Faces can be categorized along various dimensions including gender or race, an ability developing in infancy. Infant categorization studies have focused on facial attributes in isolation, but the interaction between these attributes remains poorly understood. Experiment 1 examined gender categorization of other‐race faces in 9‐ and 12‐month‐old White infants. Nine‐ and 12‐month‐olds were familiarized with Asian male or female faces, and tested with a novel exemplar from the familiarized category paired with a novel exemplar from a novel category. Both age groups showed novel category preferences for novel Asian female faces after familiarization with Asian male faces, but showed no novel category preference for novel Asian male faces after familiarization with Asian female faces. This categorization asymmetry was not due to a spontaneous preference hindering novel category reaction (Experiment 2), and both age groups displayed difficulty discriminating among male, but not female, other‐race faces (Experiment 3). These results indicate that category formation for male other‐race faces is mediated by categorical perception. Overall, the findings suggest that even by 12 months of age, infants are not fully able to form gender category representations of other‐race faces, responding categorically to male, but not female, other‐race faces.

     
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