Young children face the daunting task of learning words. Whereas some children perform this task seemingly effortlessly, for others this is challenging. Yet, the reasons for these individual differences are unclear. Especially the role of child-internal, cognitive factors is uncertain. Comparing a typically developing population to an atypically developing population can shed light on this problem.

Children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS), a relatively frequently occurring genetic condition, constitute one such atypically developing population. Although 22q11DS is characterized by a heterogeneous presentation of clinical symptoms, impaired language development has been reported for the majority of affected children. Vocabulary is greatly affected. This is likely to have substantial negative effects in later life, specifically regarding literacy skills and academic success. Furthermore, cognitive skills known to be associated with vocabulary development in typically developing children (notably memory and attention), are impaired in children with 22q11DS. Investigating these cognitive skills in relation to their vocabulary impairments can enhance our understanding of the role of these cognitive processes in vocabulary development in general.

With a linguistically informed longitudinal study, we will compare vocabulary development in children with 22q11DS to typically developing children matched on chronological age and mental age. Additionally, we will investigate the role of cognitive skills in their word learning abilities and the relation to their other language skills. Theoretically, this will contribute to elucidating individual differences in vocabulary development. Clinically, it will provide knowledge on the vocabulary development of children with 22q11DS, which can be applied in diagnostics and interventions.

• Jantine Wignand MSc
• dr. Tessel Boerma

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.

• dr. Caroline Junge
• 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

This project's aim is to predict (family risk of) dyslexia based on EEG (ERP) measurements in infants. State-of-the-art machine learning (deep learning) techniques will be employed to find early patterns in ERP data that are characteristic of (risk of) developmental dyslexia. See https://www.esciencecenter.nl/project/epodium

• dr. Hugo Schnack

Specific language impairment (SLI) in children is characterized by severe and persistent difficulties in acquiring a native language, unrelated to intellectual disability, physical limitations, or psychosocial deprivation. The etiology of SLI, in particular the role of neurocognitive processes such as learning and information processing, is poorly understood. Progress in this domain is difficult because of the large etiologic and phenotypic heterogeneity of the SLI population. Here, we propose to address this challenge by examining a population with developmental language impairment resulting from a uniform etiology: the 22q11.2 deletion (22q11DS). Children with 22q11DS display delayed language development, and learning- and information processing deficits similar to SLI. The fact that all 22q11DS share the same genetic etiology provides us with a unique opportunity to identify the mechanisms underlying this language disorder.

• dr. Emma Everaert MSc
• prof. dr. Ellen Gerrits
• dr. Tessel Boerma

• Dr. Michiel Houben; Prof.dr. Jacob Vorstman

The first 1001 days of a child’s life, from conception to the age of two, are of vital importance for the development of our complex brain. The brain structure (e.g. different cell types, connections between brain regions) is formed, which will determine a range of skills and cognitive abilities of the child later in life. This project will focus on language development, as an example of an important skill that is dependent on proper brain development. How do stimuli in the first 1001 days influence language acquisition (and disorders)? 

• prof. dr. Ellen Gerrits
• dr. Tessel Boerma
• prof. dr. Elma Blom

• Prof. dr. Jeroen Pasterkamp
• Dr. Corrette Wierenga

The current project will use machine learning techniques to explore if data on speech processing in infancy can predict the occurrence of later literacy difficulties in individual children. We perform a proof of principle study on existing vocabulary and speech discrimination data from infants at risk of DD and low-risk controls. 

• Dr. Hugo Schnack

• dr. Annemarie Kerkhoff

This study investigates relationships between language abilities and cognitive control in bilingual minority children in the Netherlands. The aim is to better understand the cognitive effects of bilingualism and to disentangle effects of bilingualism and Developmental Language Disorder.

• dr. Tessel Boerma
• dr. Mona Timmermeister
• prof. dr. Elma Blom
• prof. dr. Paul Leseman