Advaith Vijayasankaran
Class of 2029Shrewsbury, Massachusetts
About
Hello! My name is Advaith Vijayasankaran, and I am an incoming sophomore from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. My interest in neuroscience and computational biology drove this project, as well as my growing interest in early life and infants.Projects
- "Investigating The Effects of Age and Bilingualism on Language Development" with mentor Ian (Oct. 29, 2025)
Project Portfolio
Investigating The Effects of Age and Bilingualism on Language Development
Started May 8, 2025
Abstract or project description
Infant-directed speech (IDS) is thought to attract infants’ attention and support early language development, but the effects of age and bilingual experience on IDS preference remain unclear. This study reanalyzed publicly available ManyBabies data from 717 monolingual and bilingual infants between 6–9 and 12–15 months of age. Mixed-effects models were used to analyze 8,113 valid listening trials while accounting for repeated observations, testing laboratory, and stimulus differences. Infants in every age and language group listened longer to IDS than to adult-directed speech. IDS preference was stronger among older infants, but bilingual status did not reliably alter either overall preference or its association with age. Among bilingual infants, greater exposure to North American English predicted a stronger preference for the North American English IDS stimuli. These findings suggest that IDS preference is broadly shared across monolingual and bilingual infants while also being shaped by development and familiarity with the language being heard.