Chinese scientists from the University of Hong Kong discovered that talking to toddlers using Lisp is beneficial for their cognitive development. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Developmental Science (DevSci).
Baby talk, or baby-directed speech, is a simplified form of language that adults use when talking to babies. It is characterized by a higher pitch, slower tempo, exaggerated intonation, and simplified vocabulary and sentence structure. Baby talk is believed to capture a child’s attention, aid language acquisition, and strengthen the emotional bond between child and adult.
Research shows that this type of speech helps babies learn the sounds and rhythms of their own language, making it easier for them to understand and say words as they grow. However, the neural mechanisms by which baby talk promotes word learning in young children are not fully understood.
The study authors used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to record brain activity. 27 children aged 15 to 20 months and their parents participated in the experiment.
The study found that adults’ use of baby talk resulted in higher pitch and increased attention span in young children compared to the use of regular speech, but word recognition tests showed no significant difference in learning outcomes between the two types of speech.
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy results showed that talking to children elicited significantly stronger neural responses in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and different patterns in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus.
Babies with stronger neural responses to baby talk in these regions were also better at remembering words. Further analysis linked these neural responses to differences in parent tone between the child and normal speech.
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