Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T18:54:18.205Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Developing language in a developing body: the relationship between motor development and language development*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2010

JANA M. IVERSON
JANA M. IVERSON*
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
*
Address for correspondence: Jana M. Iverson, Dept. of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 3415 Sennott Square, 210 S. Bouquet St., Pittsburgh, PA 15260USA. tel: +001 (412) 624-6160; fax: +001 (412) 624-4428; email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

During the first eighteen months of life, infants acquire and refine a whole set of new motor skills that significantly change the ways in which the body moves in and interacts with the environment. In this review article, I argue that motor acquisitions provide infants with an opportunity to practice skills relevant to language acquisition before they are needed for that purpose; and that the emergence of new motor skills changes infants' experience with objects and people in ways that are relevant for both general communicative development and the acquisition of language. Implications of this perspective for current views of co-occurring language and motor impairments and for methodology in the field of child language research are also considered.

Type
Review Article and Commentaries
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , March 2010 , pp. 229 - 261
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[*]

Preparation of this article was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (R01 HD54979). I am grateful to Erin Koterba, Meg Parladé and Nina Leezenbaum for discussion of many of the ideas presented here, to Robert H. Wozniak for extensive and insightful comments, and to Edith Bavin and two anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions on previous versions of the manuscript. This article is dedicated to the memory of Michael M. Iverson.

References

REFERENCES

Bates, E., Benigni, L., Bretherton, I., Camaioni, L. & Volterra, V. (1979). The emergence of symbols: Cognition and communication in infancy. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bates, E., Bretherton, I., Snyder, L., Shore, C. & Volterra, V. (1980). Vocal and gestural symbols at 13 months. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 26, 407–23.Google Scholar
Bates, E. & Dick, F. (2002). Language, gesture, and the developing brain. Developmental Psychobiology 40, 293–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernardis, P., Bello, A., Pettenati, P., Stefanini, S. & Gentilucci, M. (2008). Manual actions affect the vocalizations of infants. Experimental Brain Research 184, 599–603.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bishop, D. V. M. (2002). Motor immaturity and specific speech and language impairment: Evidence for a common genetic basis. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 114, 56–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bishop, D. V. M. & Edmundson, A. (1987). Specific language impairment as a maturational lag: Evidence from longitudinal data on language and motor development. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 29, 442–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bloom, L. (1993). The transition from infancy to language. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butterworth, G. & Grover, L. (1990). Joint visual attention, manual pointing and preverbal communication in human infancy. In Jeannerod, M. (ed.), Attention and performance XIII, 605–624. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Campos, J. J., Anderson, D. I., Barbu-Roth, M. A., Hubbard, E. M., Hertenstein, M. J. & Witherington, D. (2000). Travel broadens the mind. Infancy 1, 149–219.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campos, J. J., Kermoian, R., Witherington, D., Chen, H. & Dong, Q. (1997). Activity, attention, and developmental transitions in infancy. In Lang, P. J. & Simons, R. F. (eds), Attention and orienting: Sensory and motivational processes, 393–415. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Capirci, O., Contaldo, A., Caselli, M. C. & Volterra, V. (2005). From action to language through gesture: A longitudinal perspective. Gesture 5, 155–77.Google Scholar
Clearfield, M. W., Osborne, C. N. & Mullen, M. (2008). Learning by looking: Infants' social looking behavior across the transition from crawling to walking. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 100, 297–307.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corrigan, R. (1979). Language development as related to Stage 6 object permanence development. Journal of Child Language 5, 173–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darrah, J., Hodge, M., Magill-Evans, J. & Kembhavi, G. (2003). Stability of serial assessments of motor and communication abilities in typically developing infants – implications for screening. Early Human Development 72, 97–110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
D'Entremont, B., Hains, S. M. J. & Muir, D. W. (1997). A demonstration of gaze following in 3- to 6-month-olds. Infant Behavior and Development 20, 569–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eilers, R., Oller, D. K., Levine, S., Basinger, D., Lynch, M. P. & Urbano, R. (1993). The role of prematurity and socioeconomic status in the onset of canonical babbling in infants. Infant Behavior and Development 16, 297–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ejiri, K. (1998). Relationship between rhythmic behavior and canonical babbling in infant vocal development. Phonetica 55, 226–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ejiri, K. & Masataka, N. (2001). Co-occurrence of preverbal vocal behavior and motor action in early infancy. Developmental Science 4, 40–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elbers, L. (1982). Operating principles in repetitive babbling: A cognitive continuity approach. Cognition 12, 45–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Escalona, S. (1973). Basic modes of social interaction: Their emergence and patterning during the first two years of life. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 19, 205–32.Google Scholar
Fagan, M. K. & Iverson, J. M. (2007). The influence of mouthing on infant vocalization. Infancy 11, 191–202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fenson, L., Kagan, J., Kearsley, R. B. & Zelazo, P. R. (1976). The developmental progression of manipulative play in the first two years. Child Development 47, 232–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gentilucci, M., Santunione, P., Roy, A. C. & Stefanini, S. (2004). Execution and observation of bringing a fruit to the mouth affect syllable pronunciation. European Journal of Neuroscience 19, 190–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gentilucci, M., Stefanini, S., Roy, A. C. & Santunione, P. (2004). Action observation and speech production: Study on children and adults. Neuropsychologia 42, 1554–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gesell, A. (1929). Infancy and human growth. New York: The Macmillan Company.Google Scholar
Gogate, L. J. & Bahrick, L. E. (1998). Intersensory redundancy facilitates learning of arbitrary relations between vowel sounds and objects in 7-month-old infants. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 69(2), 133–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gogate, L. J., Bolzani, L. E. & Betancourt, E. (2006). Attention to maternal multimodal naming by 6- to 8-month-old infants and learning of word-object relations. Infancy 9(3), 259–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldin-Meadow, S. & Iverson, J. M. (in press). Gesturing over the lifespan. In Lerner, R. and Overton, W. (eds), Handbook of lifespan development. Volume 1: Methods, biology, neuroscience, and cognitive development. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Green, J. R. & Wilson, E. M. (2006). Spontaneous facial motility in infancy: A 3D kinematic analysis. Developmental Psychobiology 48, 16–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hill, E. L. (1998). A dyspraxic deficit in specific language impairment and developmental coordination disorder? Evidence from hand and arm movements. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 40, 388–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hill, E. L. (2001). Non-specific nature of specific language impairment: A review of the literature with regard to concomitant motor impairments. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 36, 149–71.Google ScholarPubMed
Inhelder, B., Lézine, I, Sinclair, H. & Stambak, W. (1971). Les débuts de la fonctionne symbolique. Archives de Psychologie 41, 187–243.Google Scholar
Iverson, J. M., Hall, A. J., Nickel, L. & Wozniak, R. H. (2007). The relationship between onset of reduplicated babble and laterality biases in infant rhythmic arm movements. Brain and Language 101, 198–207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Iverson, J. M. & Thelen, E. (1999). Hand, mouth, and brain: The dynamic emergence of speech and gesture. Journal of Consciousness Studies 6, 19–40.Google Scholar
Iverson, J. M. & Wozniak, R. H. (2007). Variation in vocal-motor development in infant siblings of children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 37, 158–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karasik, L. B., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. & Adolph, K. E. (under review). Transition from crawling to walking affects infants' social actions with objects. Child Development.Google Scholar
Kent, R. D. (1984). Psychobiology of speech development: Co-emergence of language and a movement system. American Journal of Physiobiology 246, 888–94.Google Scholar
Koopmans-van Beinum, F. J. & van der Stelt, J. M. (1986). Early stages in the development of speech movements. In Lindbom, B. & Zetterstrom, R. (eds), Precursors of early speech, 37–50. New York: Stockton Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lenneberg, E. H. (1967). Biological foundations of language. New York: John Wiley & Sons.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Normand, M.-T., Vaivre-Douret, L. & Delfosse, M. J. (1995). Language and motor development in pre-term children: Some questions. Child: Care, Health, and Development 21, 119–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leonard, L. B. (2000). Children with specific language impairment. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Lewkowicz, D. J. (2000). Development of intersensory temporal perception: An epigenetic systems/limitations view. Psychological Bulletin 126(2), 281–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lifter, K. & Bloom, L. (1989). Object knowledge and the emergence of language. Infant Behavior and Development 12, 395–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Locke, J. L., Bekken, K. E., McMinn-Larson, L. & Wein, D. (1995). Emergent control of manual and vocal-motor activity in relation to the development of speech. Brain and Language 51, 498–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacNeilage, P. F. & Davis, B. L. (2000). On the origin of internal structure of word forms. Science 288, 527–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGraw, M. B. (1943). The neuromuscular maturation of the human infant. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
McNeill, D. (2006). Gesture and thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Meier, R. P., Mauk, C. E., Cheek, A. & Moreland, C. J. (2008). The form of children's early signs: Iconic or motoric determinants? Language Learning and Development 4, 63–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meier, R. P., McGarvin, L., Zakia, R. A. E. & Willerman, R. (1997). Silent mandibular oscillations in vocal babbling. Phonetica 54, 153–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Molfese, V. J. & Betz, J. C. (1987). Language and motor development in infancy: Three views with neuropsychological implications. Developmental Neuropsychology 3, 255–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, C. (1999). Gaze following and the control of attention. In Rochat, E. P. (ed.), Early social cognition: Understanding others in the first months of life, 241–56. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1973). Structure and strategy in learning to talk. Society for Research in Child Development Monographs 38, (1–2 Serial No. 149).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicolich, L. (1977). Beyond sensorimotor intelligence: Assessment of symbolic maturity through analysis of pretend play. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 23, 39–99.Google Scholar
Nip, I. S. B., Green, J. R. & Marx, D. B. (2009). Early speech motor development: Cognitive and linguistic considerations. Journal of Communication Disorders 42, 286–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oller, D. K. & Eilers, R. E. (1988). The role of audition in infant babbling. Child Development 59, 441–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children, trans. M. Cook. New York: International Universities Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodgon, M. M., Jankowski, W. & Alenskas, L. (1977). Journal of Child Language 4, 23–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenbaum, D. (2005). The Cinderella of psychology: The neglect of motor control in the science of mental life and behavior. American Psychologist 60, 308–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruff, H. A. (1984). Infants' manipulative exploration of objects: Effects of age and object characteristics. Developmental Psychology 20, 9–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruff, H. A., Saltarelli, L. M., Capozzoli, M. & Dubiner, K. (1992). The differentiation of activity in infants' exploration of objects. Developmental Psychology 28, 851–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, L. (1978). Communicative and cognitive abilities and disabilities during the sensorimotor period. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 24, 161–80.Google Scholar
Thelen, E. (1979). Rhythmical stereotypies in normal human infants. Animal Behaviour 27, 699–715.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thelen, E. (1991). Motor aspects of emergent speech: A dynamic approach. In Krasnegor, N. (ed.), Biobehavioral foundations of language, 339–62. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Thelen, E. (2004). The central role of action in typical and atypical development: A dynamic systems perspective. In Stockman, I. J. (ed.), Movement and action in learning and development: Clinical implications for pervasive developmental disorders, 49–73. San Diego, CA: Elsevier Academic Press.Google Scholar
Thelen, E. & Smith, L. B. (1993). A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Tipps, S. T., Mira, M. P. & Cairns, G. F. (1981). Concurrent tracking of infant motor and speech development. Genetic Psychology Monographs 104, 303–24.Google ScholarPubMed
Tomasello, M. & Farrar, J. (1986). Joint attention and early language. Child Development 57, 1454–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Viholainen, H., Ahonen, T., Cantell, M., Lyytinen, P. & Lyytinen, H. (2002). Development of early motor skills and language in children at risk for familial dyslexia. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology 44, 761–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Viholainen, H., Ahonen, T., Lyytinen, P., Cantell, M., Tolvanen, A. & Lyytinen, H. (2006). Early motor development and later language and reading skills in children at risk of familial dyslexia. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology 48, 367–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Volterra, V., Bates, E., Benigni, L., Bretherton, I. & Camaioni, L. (1979). First words in language and action: A qualitative look. In Bates, E. (ed.), The emergence of symbols: Cognition and communication in infancy, 141–222. New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volterra, V., Caselli, M. C., Capirci, O. & Pizzuto, E. (2005). Gesture and the emergence and development of language. In Slobin, D. & Tomasello, M. (eds), Beyond nature–nurture: Essays in honor of Elizabeth Bates, 3–40. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Werner, H. & Kaplan, B. (1963). Symbol formation. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Willems, R. M. & Hagoort, P. (2007). Neural evidence for the interplay between language, gesture, and action: A review. Brain and Language 101, 287–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yingling, J. (1981). Temporal features of infant speech: A description of babbling patterns circumscribed by postural achievement. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Denver.Google Scholar
Zumbahlen, M. (1997). The role of infant locomotor onset in shaping mother–infant communication. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar