Fundamental to infants' acquisition of their native language is an inherent interest in the language spoken around them over non-linguistic environmental sounds. The following studies explored whether the bias for linguistic signals in hearing infants is specific to speech, or reflects a general bias for all human language, spoken and signed. Results indicate that 6-month-old infants prefer an unfamiliar, visual-gestural language (American Sign Language) over non-linguistic pantomime, but 10-month-olds do not. These data provide evidence against a speech-specific bias in early infancy and provide insights into those properties of human languages that may underlie this language-general attentional bias.
The field of experimental aesthetics and neuroaesthetics has explored the contributions of both objective and subjective factors in the appreciation for art. This cross-sectional study attempted to distinguish these factors by comparing adult and infant preferences for nonrepresentational artistic masterworks in their original and altered forms. Using a forced-choice paradigm for adults, and a preferential-looking paradigm for 6- to 10-month-old infants, we found that both populations preferred the original art, especially when complexity and contrast were reduced in the altered versions. Neither of the populations preferred the original art when the pattern was disrupted. Infants, but not the adults, preferred the originals that retained compositional balance, and adults, but not infants, preferred the artworks with intact focal points. In sum, our results demonstrate that appreciation for the objective features of artworks, especially complexity and contrast, are biologically driven, likely through experience-expectant brain growth, and remain stable throughout life.
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