The development of infants’ sensitivity to native versus non-native rhythm

Speech rhythm is considered one of the first windows into the native language, and the taxonomy of rhythm classes is commonly used to explain early language discrimination. Relying on formal rhythm classification is problematic for two reasons. First, it is not known to which extent infants’ sensitivity to language variation is attributable to rhythm alone, and second, it is not known how infants discriminate languages not classified in any of the putative rhythm classes. Employing a central-fixation preference paradigm with natural stimuli, this study tested whether infants differentially attend to native versus nonnative varieties that differ only in temporal rhythm cues, and both of which are rhythmically unclassified. An analysis of total looking time did not detect any rhythm preferences at any age. First-look duration, arguably more closely reflecting infants’ underlying perceptual sensitivities, indicated age-specific preferences for native versus non-native rhythm: 4-month-olds seemed to prefer the native-, and 6-month-olds the non-native language-variety. These findings suggest that infants indeed acquire native rhythm cues rather early, by the 4th month, supporting the theory that rhythm can bootstrap further language development. Our data on infants’ processing of rhythmically unclassified languages suggest that formal rhythm classification does not determine infants’ ability to discriminate language varieties.     

Experience with research paradigms relates to infants’ direction of preference

Interpreting and predicting direction of preference in infant research has been a thorny issue for decades. Several factors have been proposed to account for familiarity versus novelty preferences, including age, length of exposure, and task complexity. The current study explores an additional dimension: experience with the experimental paradigm. We reanalyzed the data from 4 experiments on artificial grammar learning in 12-month-old infants run using the head-turn preference procedure (HPP). Participants in these studies varied substantially in their number of laboratory visits. Results show that the number of HPP studies is related to direction of preference: Infants with limited experience with the HPP setting were more likely to show familiarity preferences than infants who had amassed more experience with this paradigm. This evidence has important implications for the interpretation of experimental results: Experience with a given method or, more broadly, with the laboratory environment may affect infants’ patterns of preferences.     

Twelve-month-old infants’ physiological responses to music are affected by others’ positive and negative reactions

Infants show remarkable skills for processing music in the first year of life. Such skills are believed to foster social and communicative development, yet little is known about how infants’ own preferences for music develop and whether social information plays a role. Here, we investigate whether the reactions of another person influence infants’ responses to music. Specifically, 12-month-olds (N = 33) saw an actor react positively or negatively after listening to clips of instrumental music. Arousal (measured via pupil dilation) and attention (measured via looking time) were assessed when infants later heard the clips without the actor visible. Results showed greater pupil dilation when listening to music clips that had previously been reacted to negatively than those that had been reacted to positively (Exp. 1). This effect was not replicated when a similar, rather than identical, clip from the piece of music was used in the test phase (Exp. 2, N = 35 12-month-olds). There were no effects of the actor's positive or negative reaction on looking time. Together, our findings suggest that infants are sensitive to others’ positive and negative reactions not only for concrete objects, such as food or toys, but also for more abstract stimuli including music.     

Boosting the input: 9-month-olds’ sensitivity to low-frequency phonotactic patterns in novel wordforms

To learn their first words, infants must attend to a variety of cues that signal word boundaries. One such cue infants might use is the language-specific phonotactics to track legal combinations and positions of segments within a word. Studies have demonstrated that, when tested across statistically high and low phonotactics, infants repeatedly reject the low-frequency wordforms. We explore whether the capacity to access low-frequency phonotactic combinations is available at 9 months when pre-exposed to wordforms containing statistically low combinations of segments. Using a modified head-turn procedure, one group of infants was presented with nonwords with low-frequency complex onsets (dr-), and another group was presented with zero-frequency onset nonwords (dl-). Following pre-exposure and familiarization, infants were then tested on their ability to segment nonwords that contained either the low- or the zero-frequency onsets. Only infants in the low-frequency condition were successful at the task, suggesting some experience with these onsets supports segmentation.     

Are labour inspections effective when labour regulations vary according to the size of the firm? Evidence from Peru

This article analyses the impact of enforcement of four labour standards (pension system enrolment, minimum wage, maximum weekly working hours and written employment contract) on compliance in Peru, where labour regulations and penalties vary according to firm size. The author uses household survey data to analyse a factor not previously studied – adjustment by firms through downsizing to benefit from lower fines and less stringent regulations. The empirical findings indicate that enforcement efforts have little effect on either the degree of compliance or the size of firms.     

‘Angry,when things don’t go my own way’: what it means to be gay with learning disabilities

This article presents six poems constructed by George, a gay man with learning disabilities, who took part in an arts-based project for men with learning disabilities. The poetry reflects upon George’s feelings relating to his sexual desires, his longing for a loving relationship and his frustration and anger at not having control over his life. Like other people who are gay with learning disabilities, George regularly encountered stigma because of his disability and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer status, limiting the development of meaningful relationships, and increasing the resentment and anger George felt about life. Thus, barriers remain for people with learning disabilities who are gay. With this in mind, the aim of presenting the poems in this article is to develop further understandings of what it means to be a gay person with learning disabilities using poetry in an arts-based project.     

Using respondent-driven sampling with ‘hard to reach’ marginalised young people: problems with slow recruitment and small network size

This paper documents an experience of using respondent-driven sampling (RDS) to recruit socially marginalised young people in Sydney, Australia. Respondents were young people aged 16–24?years who were current illicit drug users and who reported at least one feature of social marginalisation (e.g. recent homelessness or juvenile detention). Four seeds initiated the sampling and 61 respondents were recruited until the sampling was closed due to slow progress at week nine. The paper examines: (1) the overall success of RDS and compares this with similar RDS studies; and (2) the sufficiency of network ties among respondents. The analyses suggest that RDS was generally successful in that, despite its small size, the sample achieved adequately long recruitment chains and variables converged to equilibrium. Nevertheless, recruitment was much slower than comparable studies. This could be due to the study population having reduced willingness to participate, a high proportion of respondents who did not fit the selection criteria, and small and disparate networks. Using RDS with marginalised youth may require generous resourcing to allow large incentives to increase willingness, and a lengthy recruitment period. Moreover, the small networks suggest that researchers should start the sampling with a large number of seeds.     

How social workers reflect in action and when and why they don’t: the possibilities and limits to reflective practice in social work

The need for professionals to use reflection to learn about and develop their practice is now a universally stated goal. In social work however there has been little research into whether and how reflection in action actually occurs and this paper explores the possibilities and limits to reflective practice by drawing on research that observed encounters between social workers and children and families as the work was being conducted in real time. The findings show that practitioners often do reflect in action by elevating their minds above the interactions they are having so that they can think critically about and adjust what they are doing. But there are times when reflection is either limited or non-existent because practitioners defend themselves against the sensory and emotional impact of the work and the high anxiety they are experiencing. Drawing on psychoanalysis and social theories of the body and senses, the paper argues for a revision of the concept of reflective practice to take account of how the self is defended. The limits to reflection must be fully recognised while seeking ways to develop the capacity of practitioners to think clearly and critically so that vital insights about service users and the helping process can occur.