Effects of English versus Spanish language exposure on basic multisensory attention skills across 3 to 36 months of age

While the cognitive benefits of bilingual experience had been well established, there are still people who disparage non-native English speakers as if English is a superior language. Edgar, Todd, Eschman, Hayes & Bahrick (2023) published “Effects of English versus Spanish Language Exposure on Basic Multisensory Attention Skills across 3 to 36 Months of Age” in Developmental Psychology. Here’s the edited abstract and impact statement:

Recent research has demonstrated that individual differences in infant attention to faces and voices of women speaking predict language outcomes in childhood. These findings have been generated using two new audiovisual attention assessments appropriate for infants and young children, the Multisensory Attention Assessment Protocol (MAAP) and the Intersensory Processing Efficiency Protocol (IPEP). The MAAP and IPEP assess three basic attention skills (sustaining attention, shifting/disengaging, intersensory matching), as well as distractibility, deployed in the context of naturalistic audiovisual social (women speaking English) and nonsocial events (objects impacting a surface). Might children with differential exposure to Spanish versus English show different patterns of attention to social events on these protocols as a function of language familiarity? We addressed this question in several ways using children (n = 81 dual-language learners; n = 23 monolingual-language learners) from South Florida, tested longitudinally across 3–36 months. Surprisingly, results indicated no significant English language advantage on any attention measure for children from monolingual English versus dual English–Spanish language environments. Second, for dual-language learners, exposure to English changed across age, decreasing slightly from 3–12 months and then increasing considerably by 36 months. Furthermore, for dual-language learners, structural equation modeling analyses revealed no English language advantage on the MAAP or IPEP as a function of degree of English language exposure. The few relations found were in the direction of greater performance for children with greater Spanish exposure. Together, findings indicate no English language advantage for basic multisensory attention skills assessed by the MAAP or IPEP between the ages of 3 to 36 months. 

We examined the potential impact of home language exposure on basic attention skills when infants exposed to one language (English) or more than one language (both English and Spanish) are presented with faces and voices of women speaking English. We found that basic multisensory attention skills including sustaining attention, shifting and disengaging attention, and intersensory matching of the sights and sounds of women speaking in English are relatively unaffected by the specific language environment (English vs. Spanish) of children across 3–36 months of age. 

Although it is a relatively small sample, the findings are rather impressive. It makes sense to me that, in the home during the first year of life, infants would hear more Spanish, then be encouraged to learn more English as they become toddlers and preschoolers. In the end, though, this work emphasizes the value of bilingual exposure in the development of basic attentional and sensory processing skills.