Conboy & Mills 2007

Question 1

research question

Answer 1

organization of language-relevant brain activity is linked to experience with language (and not brain maturation )

Question 2

method

Answer 2

measured brain activity (event-related potentials; ERPs) in English-spanish bilingual toddlers

• some were Spanish-dominant, some of whom were English dominant
• looking at the shape of the ERP (size of positive and negative peaks)

Question 3

premise

Answer 3

language becomes specialized in the left hemisphere (larger left-side P100) for children who have better mastered their native language (monolinguals)

Question 4

hypothesis (2)

Answer 4

• If experience drives language specialization, bilinguals should show left-side specialization (larger left-side P100) for their dominant language (language they have the most experience with and have mastered better) but not for their non-dominant language (the one they have less experience with)
• If brain maturation drives language specialization, bilinguals should show left-side specialization (larger left-side P100) if they have a larger total conceptual vocabulary (indicating a greater global language capacity) for both languages (dominant and non-dominant)—the language they have the most experience with shouldn’t matter; it’s just about the brain supporting growth in language (vocab size) more generally.

Question 5

results

Answer 5

-brain shows specialization in the left brain with spanish bc the baby knows more spanish words and activation of the whole brain when hearing english

Question 6

conclusion

Answer 6

• supports experience specialization
• kids who don’t have an understanding of language = brains haven’t specialized with

–kids will specialized based on the language they have the most experience with