"Language Community Shapes Babies' Predictive Abilities"

A study conducted at UPF found that six-month-old infants can predict the actions of individuals who speak their mother tongue, but not of those speaking a foreign language, indicating a bias in predictive and learning behavior. The research suggests that the brain’s predictive capabilities and learning preferences are shaped early in life by social factors such as language, influencing how infants interpret, imitate, and learn from their environment. The study observed distinct brain activity and attention focus in infants when exposed to native versus foreign language speakers, highlighting the impact of linguistic bias on children’s learning processes and social categorization.