Date of Graduation

8-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Human Environmental Science (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

General Human Environmental Sciences

Advisor/Mentor

Garrison, Betsy

Committee Member

Killian, Timothy

Keywords

Adult-directed input; Background music; Child-directed input; Cognitive interference; Reading comprehension

Abstract

Although music features in speech, such as those found in child-directed speech and song, are known to enhance language processing, the underlying mechanism of this benefit remains unclear. Prior research has primarily compared verbal materials presented in a musical, child-directed style to those in a less musical, adult-directed style, leaving it uncertain whether the benefit stems from the music style of verbal presentation or mere exposure to musical features. This study examined whether the language benefits of child-directed input persist when it is presented as background auditory stimuli rather than the primary focus of cognitive tasks. Experiment 1 found that background child-directed songs in a familiar language, but not adult-directed songs, disrupted reading performance compared to silence. Experiment 2 found that this interference disappeared when child-directed song was in an unfamiliar language. Experiment 3 confirmed that the child-directed song used in Experiment 1 did not impair non-linguistic spatial reasoning performance. Together, these findings suggest that the widely reported language benefits of child-directed input do not result from passive exposure to musical features. Therefore, these benefits should require a musical, child-directed presentation of verbal material. Moreover, the effect appears to involve language-specific mechanisms activated only when the language is familiar and the task is language-based. Overall, these findings demonstrate that the language benefits of child-directed input are familiarity-based and language-specific, highlighting the importance of active linguistic processing rather than passive exposure to musical features. These insights are particularly valuable for supporting the cognitive and linguistic development of young adults.

Download

Share

COinS