Description du projet
Comprendre la communication infantile, au-delà des mots articulés
La langue est un outil fondamental qui façonne notre esprit et permet le partage des connaissances entre les générations. Dans le domaine du développement du nourrisson, des chercheurs tentent de déterminer si nous pouvons communiquer et partager des connaissances avec ceux-ci uniquement par la parole, ou si les gestes jouent un rôle tout aussi crucial. Le mouvement en plein essor de la «langue des signes pour bébé» conforte cette dernière hypothèse. La langue des signes pour bébé implique des gestes symboliques qui représentent des concepts, facilitant potentiellement la communication entre les nourrissons et les adultes. Cependant, les recherches en cours proposent des points de vue contradictoires basés sur des interprétations indirectes du comportement des nourrissons. Le projet MultiMeans, financé par le MSCA, fera appel à l’électroencéphalographie pour décoder directement le cerveau du nourrisson et le comparer à celui de l’adulte. L’objectif est de déterminer si les deux partagent un espace conceptuel multimodal commun pour l’échange de significations.
Objectif
"Language is our most potent cognitive and cultural tool, through which we can shape one another’s minds, share information and build knowledge collectively across generations. This is crucial during development: infants build knowledge to the extent that adults offer the appropriate scaffold, i.e. if the teaching material is tuned to the infant’s current understanding. At present, it is hotly debated whether we can open communication and share knowledge with infants only by means of spoken words, or whether gestures offer equal scaffolding. The growing ""baby sign"" movement may offer this possibility. Baby sign is a system of symbolic gestures, i.e. signs that have meaning and symbolize concepts. As a result, symbolic gestures are a potential means for exchanging meanings in the preverbal infant/adult dyad. However, this exciting scenario cannot be proved by the existing research, which shows contrasting views that only rely on the indirect interpretation of infant behaviour. Using EEG, the present project will be the first to directly decode the baby brain and establish a direct quantitative comparison with the adult brain to verify whether the two share a common multimodal conceptual space, essential for exchanging meanings before and beyond spoken language. At the scientific level, the project will provide an unprecedented understanding of the origins of human language and symbolic cognition, which are essential hallmarks of our species. By testing whether these core abilities develop not only via the verbal channel (spoken words) but also via the visual channel (symbolic gestures), it may support a paradigm shift in favor of human language as inherently multimodal. At the societal level, the project will test key assumptions of baby signing, whose widespread interest is not equally paralleled by compelling scientific evidence; thus, it will directly impact intervention models that aim to support human language and symbolic cognition during (a)typical development."
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Régime de financement
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinateur
38122 Trento
Italie