In a new study, researchers including Assistant Professor Casey Lew-Williams provide insight into fundamental questions about the mind’s ability to cope with complex language environments, exemplified by bilingualism.

Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), the study shows that bilingual infants as young as 20 months of age can efficiently and accurately process two languages.

Using an eye-tracking procedure, bilingual infants in the study were more accurate at recognizing objects labeled in same-language sentences (“Find the dog!”) than in switched-language sentences (“Find the chien!”). 

Full Story:
Bilingual babies listen to languages — and don’t get confused