Niet iedereen ontwikkelt taalvaardigheden even goed. De 1001 dagen vanaf conceptie zijn cruciaal voor taalvaardigheid èn breinontwikkeling. Maar of er een samenhang is tussen deze twee is nog niet getoetst. Via het YOUth-cohort worden >2000 kinderen gevolgd vanaf de zwangerschap. In dit onderzoek wordt hun taalvaardigheid uitgebreid in kaart gebracht wanneer zij 3-6 jaar zijn. Vervolgens testen onderzoekers of prenatale breinontwikkeling en het ontstaan van sociale breinnetwerken in de babytijd bijdragen aan taalvaardigheid. Ook wordt gekeken hoe deze relaties samenhangen met eigenschappen van de ouders en het kind zelf. Hierdoor kunnen we beter hulp bieden aan kinderen met taalachterstanden.

Language is the cornerstone of human interaction, yet not everyone develops their language abilities to the same extent. Crucially, individual differences in early language development prove meaningful as they predict later outcomes, such as academic achievements and social competence. Understanding what factors determine language development is key for optimizing interventions and adjusting development. Many researchers identified critical elements in a child’s environment, such as the language input children receive. Also, differences in how children process speech has proven predictive. However, large portions of variance remain unexplained. Theories hypothesize an essential role for the brain. The time frame in which children master their language overlaps with when dramatic changes in brain development take place: the first 1,001 days from conception onwards. Will early brain characteristics prove predictive of later language profiles? And what is its interplay with other mechanisms such as parental proficiency?

This innovative project tests these questions by building on a large longitudinal on-going cohort study (the YOUth cohort; >2,000 children) that started with prenatal ultrasounds. It is the first study directly linking prenatal brain development to subsequent language development, thereby advancing theories on what is crucial to the origins of language development. BRAVECHILD (how BRAin deVElopment Contributes to cHIldren’s Language Development) adds assessments that capture children’s full language profiles. As this project examines novel (combinations of) precursors to various components of language development, BRAVECHILD is unique in its scale (>2,000 children; both typical and various atypical populations), time span (including the crucial first 1,001 days), and scope of predictors and outcome measures, all in the same children. In this way I will build a multi-factorial model explaining language development through the interplay between early brain development, parental proficiency and speech perception. For infants at risk of language delays, this will guide future interventions at the earliest age possible.

• Melis Çetinçelik
• Nina Wyman MSc

• Marlijne Boumeester; Martin Teunisse

Infant cognition is a flourishing and respected field of inquiry, but its practitioners agree that a large share of experiments are underpowered and that replicability is a serious issue (Frank et al., 2017). A consortium consisting of all four babylabs in the Dutch Baby Brain and Cognition Network will replicate two exemplary studies, each fundamental to the core debates in the field. The algebraic rule learning study reported in Science by Marcus, Vijaya, Bandi and Vishton (1999) plays a key role in the debate on (innate) learning mechanisms involved in language acquisition, and whether these are human- and language-specific, while the study on cognitive gains of bilingualism, reported in PNAS by Kovács and Mehler (2004) is of fundamental importance in the debate on whether bilingualism has a positive influence on cognitive flexibility. By replicating each study in all four labs, we will improve statistical power of the studies, and test the robustness of the original results when the experiments are performed in different labs. In our data analyses, we will depart from the traditional frequentist methods used in the original studies. Specifically, a Bayesian sequential testing approach will be used in order to determine when enough evidence is gathered to evaluate the original findings. This approach also allows us to quantify evidence for the null hypothesis in case we cannot replicate the results of the original studies. Summarizing, by increasing statistical power, the aim of the current project - led by the Dutch Baby Brain and Cognition Network - is to solidify the results of two infant studies addressing fundamental questions concerning human cognition and its ontogenesis.

• prof. dr. Frank Wijnen
• prof. dr. Elma Blom

• Prof. Dr. C. C. Levelt (hoofd aanvrager)
• S. Spit MPhil
• A. Geambasu MA
• Prof. Dr. P. Fikkert
• Prof. Dr. S. Hunnius
• Dr. J. Verhagen
• Dr. I. Visser

SAPIENS is an inter-disciplinary scientific network (carried out within the framework of the European Training Network H2020) devoted to advance our understanding of social brain development. The network is built of leading European research institutions in the areas of developmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience, screening and intervention for neurodevelopmental disorders, behavioural genetics, computational modelling and biomedical engineering. Our aim is to provide a multidisciplinary network environment in which cutting-edge science is combined with training young researchers. Within the network, a group of 15 young researchers will receive a comprehensive training to prepare them for future work in diverse institutional environments (academia, SMEs, public service, NGOs) along a variety of career paths including basic research, clinical translation, applied technology, and public policy. More information you can find here.

At Utrecht University, I co-supervise together with Dr. Carlijn van den Boomen and Prof. Chantal Kemner ESR5: Zsofia Belteki.

• dr. Carlijn van den Boomen
• prof. dr. Chantal Kemner
• Zsofia Bélteki MSc