How language in the environment shapes the child’s brain

Why talk to babies? To grow their brains!

Babies don’t talk to us, so why should we talk to them? Do they understand us better when we use high pitched and simplified baby talk? Why do we so often use baby talk with babies anyway? Do babies get confused when we use more than one language with them? Does using sign language help or hurt babies’ language development? Recent research provides answers to these questions, showing how babies learn language and what happens to their brains when they do. This talk gives a broad overview of how the language in the environment affects brain development, especially the language system, a hallmark of human evolution.