Nivedita Mani
Biographic Data
| ID | 3774074 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nivedita Mani |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nivedita |
| FAMILY NAME | Mani |
| SIGNATURE | MANI N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Does young children’s interest in categories influence their familiar word–object recognition?
Over the first 2 years, children learn to recognize many familiar objects when hearing its label. Nonetheless, recognition is influenced by factors such as category size, frequency, and salience. Since a child’s individual interests influence word learning , we hypothesized that they might also modulate attention during recognition. Twenty-two- to thirty-nine-month-old typically developing German children’s familiar word–object recognition was me…
Living in a digital ecology: The impact on social interaction, learning, and language development
This introduction presents the contributions to the special issue "Living in a Digital Ecology: The Impact on Social Interaction, Learning, and Language Development." We address current directions in the field and provide a summary of the main topics covered, in addition to providing directions for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)
Maternal information sampling targets children's knowledge gaps
According to recent computational approaches, when children are presented with information by knowledgeable others, children can make the pedagogical inference that their partner has chosen the best possible data in order for them to learn from. But do caregivers – the child's first teachers – really choose the best possible data for their child to learn? The current study examined the extent to which caregivers (and their 4- to 5.5-year-old chil…
Children’s individual interests are sustained across development and predict later vocabulary development
While previous studies highlight the role that children’s interest in natural categories predicts their learning of new label-object associations in these categories, the long-term implications of such a relationship – the extent to which children’s interest shapes lexical development – remain unclear. The current study examines whether children’s interests in different natural object categories predict their subsequent interest and the number of…
The Development of Early Phonological Networks: An Analysis of Individual Longitudinal Vocabulary Growth
While much work has emphasized the role of the environment in language learning, research equally reports consistent effects of the child's knowledge, in particular, the words known to individual children, in steering further lexical development. Much of this work is based on cross‐sectional data, assuming that the words typically known to children at n months predict the words typically known to children at n +x months. Given acknowledged variab…
Infants follow the gaze of same‐age peers, young children, and adults
Gaze following – infants’ orienting towards an object attended to by their social partner – has been linked to a range of socio‐cognitive skills. Despite considerable research on when infants follow the gaze of their social partners, studies have typically examined infants’ following of adults’ gaze. Therefore, little is known about whether or how gaze following is modulated by the characteristics of the model, such as their age. The current stud…
Covid-19 first lockdown as a window into language acquisition: Associations between caregiver-child activities and vocabulary gains
The COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting closure of daycare centers worldwide, led to unprecedented changes in children’s learning environments. This period of increased time at home with caregivers, with limited access to external sources (e.g., daycares) provides a unique opportunity to examine the associations between the caregiver-child activities and children’s language development. The vocabularies of 1742 children aged 8-36 months across 1…
A Multilab Study of Bilingual Infants: Exploring the Preference for Infant-Directed Speech
From the earliest months of life, infants prefer listening to and learn better from infant-directed speech (IDS) than adult-directed speech (ADS). Yet, IDS differs within communities, across languages, and across cultures, both in form and in prevalence. This large-scale, multi-site study used the diversity of bilingual infant experiences to explore the impact of different types of linguistic experience on infants' IDS preference. As part of the …
A multi-lab study of bilingual infants: Exploring the preference for infant-directed speech
From the earliest months of life, infants prefer listening to and learn better from infant-directed speech (IDS) than adult-directed speech (ADS). Yet, IDS differs within communities, across languages, and across cultures, both in form and in prevalence. This large-scale, multi-site study used the diversity of bilingual infant experiences to explore the impact of different types of linguistic experience on infants’ IDS preference. As part of the …
Quantifying Sources of Variability in Infancy Research Using the Infant-Directed-Speech Preference
Psychological scientists have become increasingly concerned with issues related to methodology and replicability, and infancy researchers in particular face specific challenges related to replicability: For example, high-powered studies are difficult to conduct, testing conditions vary across labs, and different labs have access to different infant populations. Addressing these concerns, we report on a large-scale, multisite study aimed at (a) as…
Maternal input and infants’ response to infant‐directed speech
Caregivers typically use an exaggerated speech register known as infant‐directed speech (IDS) in communication with infants. Infants prefer IDS over adult‐directed speech (ADS) and IDS is functionally relevant in infant‐directed communication. We examined interactions among maternal IDS quality, infants’ preference for IDS over ADS, and the functional relevance of IDS at 6 and 13 months. While 6‐month‐olds showed a preference for IDS over ADS, 13…
Early Word Segmentation in Naturalistic Environments: Limited Effects of Speech Register
We examined 7.5‐month‐old infants' ability to segment words from infant‐ and adult‐directed speech ( IDS and ADS ). In particular, we extended the standard design of most segmentation studies by including a phase where infants were repeatedly exposed to target word recordings at their own home (extended exposure) in addition to a laboratory‐based familiarization. This enabled us to examine infants' segmentation of words from speech input in their…
Effects of learning context on the acquisition and processing of emotional words in bilinguals
Although bilinguals respond differently to emotionally valenced words in their first language (L1) relative to emotionally neutral words, similar effects of emotional valence are hard to come by in second language (L2) processing. We examine the extent to which these differences in first and second language processing are due to the context in which the 2 languages are acquired: L1 is typically acquired in more naturalistic settings (e.g., family…
Audiovisual speech perception in infancy: The influence of vowel identity and infants’ productive abilities on sensitivity to (mis)matches between auditory and visual speech cues
Recent studies suggest that infants' audiovisual speech perception is influenced by articulatory experience (Mugitani et al., 2008; Yeung & Werker, 2013). The current study extends these findings by testing if infants' emerging ability to produce native sounds in babbling impacts their audiovisual speech perception. We tested 44 6-month-olds on their ability to detect mismatches between concurrently presented auditory and visual vowels and relate…
Early Word Recognition in Sentence Context: French and English 24‐Month‐Olds' Sensitivity to Sentence‐Medial Mispronunciations and Assimilations
Recent work has shown that young children can use fine phonetic detail during the recognition of isolated and sentence‐final words from early in lexical development. The present study investigates 24‐month‐olds' word recognition in sentence‐medial position in two experiments using an Intermodal Preferential Looking paradigm. In Experiment 1, French toddlers detect word‐final voicing mispronunciations (e.g., bu z [by z ] for bu s [by s ] “bus”), a…
The Impact of Mispronunciations on Toddler Word Recognition: Evidence for Cascaded Activation of Semantically Related Words from Mispronunciations of Familiar Words
While the specificity of infants' early lexical representations has been studied extensively, researchers have only recently begun to investigate how words are organized in the developing lexicon and what mental representations are activated during processing of a word. Integrating these two lines of research, the current study asks how specific the phonological match between a perceived word and its stored form has to be in order to lead to (cas…
How yellow is your banana? Toddlers' language-mediated visual search in referent-present tasks
What is the relative salience of different aspects of word meaning in the developing lexicon? The current study examines the time-course of retrieval of semantic and color knowledge associated with words during toddler word recognition: At what point do toddlers orient toward an image of a yellow cup upon hearing color-matching words such as "banana" (typically yellow) relative to unrelated words (e.g., "house")? Do children orient faster to sema…
Toddlers’ Processing of Phonological Alternations: Early Compensation for Assimilation in English and French
Using a picture pointing task, this study examines toddlers' processing of phonological alternations that trigger sound changes in connected speech. Three experiments investigate whether 2;5- to 3-year-old children take into account assimilations--processes by which phonological features of one sound spread to adjacent sounds--for the purpose of word recognition (e.g., in English, ten pounds can be produced as te[mp]ounds). English toddlers (n = …
Does size matter? Subsegmental cues to vowel mispronunciation detection
Children look longer at a familiar object when presented with either correct pronunciations or small mispronunciations of consonants in the object's label, but not following larger mispronunciations. The current article examines whether children display a similar graded sensitivity to different degrees of mispronunciations of the vowels in familiar words, by testing children's sensitivity to 1-feature, 2-feature and 3-feature mispronunciations of…
Twelve‐Month‐Olds Know Their Cups From Their Keps and Tups
Fourteen‐month‐olds are sensitive to mispronunciations of the vowels and consonants in familiar words (N. Mani & K. Plunkett (2007), Journal of Memory and Language , 57, 252; D. Swingley & R. N. Aslin (2002), Psychological Science , 13, 480). To examine the development of this sensitivity further, the current study tests 12‐month‐olds’ sensitivity to different kinds of vowel and consonant mispronunciations of familiar words. The results reveal th…
Phonological Specificity of Vowel Contrasts at 18-months
Previous research has shown that English infants are sensitive to mispronunciations of vowels in familiar words by as early as 15-months of age. These results suggest that not only are infants sensitive to large mispronunciations of the vowels in words, but also sensitive to smaller mispronunciations, involving changes to only one dimension of the vowel. The current study broadens this research by comparing infants' sensitivity to the different t…
Audiovisual speech perception in infancy: The influence of vowel identity and infants’ productive abilities on sensitivity to (mis)matches between auditory and visual speech cues
Recent studies suggest that infants' audiovisual speech perception is influenced by articulatory experience (Mugitani et al., 2008; Yeung & Werker, 2013). The current study extends these findings by testing if infants' emerging ability to produce native sounds in babbling impacts their audiovisual speech perception. We tested 44 6-month-olds on their ability to detect mismatches between concurrently presented auditory and visual vowels and relate…
How yellow is your banana? Toddlers' language-mediated visual search in referent-present tasks
What is the relative salience of different aspects of word meaning in the developing lexicon? The current study examines the time-course of retrieval of semantic and color knowledge associated with words during toddler word recognition: At what point do toddlers orient toward an image of a yellow cup upon hearing color-matching words such as "banana" (typically yellow) relative to unrelated words (e.g., "house")? Do children orient faster to sema…
Phonological Specificity of Vowel Contrasts at 18-months
Previous research has shown that English infants are sensitive to mispronunciations of vowels in familiar words by as early as 15-months of age. These results suggest that not only are infants sensitive to large mispronunciations of the vowels in words, but also sensitive to smaller mispronunciations, involving changes to only one dimension of the vowel. The current study broadens this research by comparing infants' sensitivity to the different t…
Phonological Specificity of Vowel Contrasts at 18-months
Previous research has shown that English infants are sensitive to mispronunciations of vowels in familiar words by as early as 15-months of age. These results suggest that not only are infants sensitive to large mispronunciations of the vowels in words, but also sensitive to smaller mispronunciations, involving changes to only one dimension of the vowel. The current study broadens this research by comparing infants' sensitivity to the different t…
Twelve‐Month‐Olds Know Their Cups From Their Keps and Tups
Fourteen‐month‐olds are sensitive to mispronunciations of the vowels and consonants in familiar words (N. Mani & K. Plunkett (2007), Journal of Memory and Language , 57, 252; D. Swingley & R. N. Aslin (2002), Psychological Science , 13, 480). To examine the development of this sensitivity further, the current study tests 12‐month‐olds’ sensitivity to different kinds of vowel and consonant mispronunciations of familiar words. The results reveal th…
Does size matter? Subsegmental cues to vowel mispronunciation detection
Children look longer at a familiar object when presented with either correct pronunciations or small mispronunciations of consonants in the object's label, but not following larger mispronunciations. The current article examines whether children display a similar graded sensitivity to different degrees of mispronunciations of the vowels in familiar words, by testing children's sensitivity to 1-feature, 2-feature and 3-feature mispronunciations of…
Toddlers’ Processing of Phonological Alternations: Early Compensation for Assimilation in English and French
Using a picture pointing task, this study examines toddlers' processing of phonological alternations that trigger sound changes in connected speech. Three experiments investigate whether 2;5- to 3-year-old children take into account assimilations--processes by which phonological features of one sound spread to adjacent sounds--for the purpose of word recognition (e.g., in English, ten pounds can be produced as te[mp]ounds). English toddlers (n = …
Early Word Recognition in Sentence Context: French and English 24‐Month‐Olds' Sensitivity to Sentence‐Medial Mispronunciations and Assimilations
Recent work has shown that young children can use fine phonetic detail during the recognition of isolated and sentence‐final words from early in lexical development. The present study investigates 24‐month‐olds' word recognition in sentence‐medial position in two experiments using an Intermodal Preferential Looking paradigm. In Experiment 1, French toddlers detect word‐final voicing mispronunciations (e.g., bu z [by z ] for bu s [by s ] “bus”), a…
The Impact of Mispronunciations on Toddler Word Recognition: Evidence for Cascaded Activation of Semantically Related Words from Mispronunciations of Familiar Words
While the specificity of infants' early lexical representations has been studied extensively, researchers have only recently begun to investigate how words are organized in the developing lexicon and what mental representations are activated during processing of a word. Integrating these two lines of research, the current study asks how specific the phonological match between a perceived word and its stored form has to be in order to lead to (cas…
How yellow is your banana? Toddlers' language-mediated visual search in referent-present tasks
What is the relative salience of different aspects of word meaning in the developing lexicon? The current study examines the time-course of retrieval of semantic and color knowledge associated with words during toddler word recognition: At what point do toddlers orient toward an image of a yellow cup upon hearing color-matching words such as "banana" (typically yellow) relative to unrelated words (e.g., "house")? Do children orient faster to sema…
Early Word Segmentation in Naturalistic Environments: Limited Effects of Speech Register
We examined 7.5‐month‐old infants' ability to segment words from infant‐ and adult‐directed speech ( IDS and ADS ). In particular, we extended the standard design of most segmentation studies by including a phase where infants were repeatedly exposed to target word recordings at their own home (extended exposure) in addition to a laboratory‐based familiarization. This enabled us to examine infants' segmentation of words from speech input in their…
Effects of learning context on the acquisition and processing of emotional words in bilinguals
Although bilinguals respond differently to emotionally valenced words in their first language (L1) relative to emotionally neutral words, similar effects of emotional valence are hard to come by in second language (L2) processing. We examine the extent to which these differences in first and second language processing are due to the context in which the 2 languages are acquired: L1 is typically acquired in more naturalistic settings (e.g., family…
Audiovisual speech perception in infancy: The influence of vowel identity and infants’ productive abilities on sensitivity to (mis)matches between auditory and visual speech cues
Recent studies suggest that infants' audiovisual speech perception is influenced by articulatory experience (Mugitani et al., 2008; Yeung & Werker, 2013). The current study extends these findings by testing if infants' emerging ability to produce native sounds in babbling impacts their audiovisual speech perception. We tested 44 6-month-olds on their ability to detect mismatches between concurrently presented auditory and visual vowels and relate…
A multi-lab study of bilingual infants: Exploring the preference for infant-directed speech
From the earliest months of life, infants prefer listening to and learn better from infant-directed speech (IDS) than adult-directed speech (ADS). Yet, IDS differs within communities, across languages, and across cultures, both in form and in prevalence. This large-scale, multi-site study used the diversity of bilingual infant experiences to explore the impact of different types of linguistic experience on infants’ IDS preference. As part of the …
Quantifying Sources of Variability in Infancy Research Using the Infant-Directed-Speech Preference
Psychological scientists have become increasingly concerned with issues related to methodology and replicability, and infancy researchers in particular face specific challenges related to replicability: For example, high-powered studies are difficult to conduct, testing conditions vary across labs, and different labs have access to different infant populations. Addressing these concerns, we report on a large-scale, multisite study aimed at (a) as…
Maternal input and infants’ response to infant‐directed speech
Caregivers typically use an exaggerated speech register known as infant‐directed speech (IDS) in communication with infants. Infants prefer IDS over adult‐directed speech (ADS) and IDS is functionally relevant in infant‐directed communication. We examined interactions among maternal IDS quality, infants’ preference for IDS over ADS, and the functional relevance of IDS at 6 and 13 months. While 6‐month‐olds showed a preference for IDS over ADS, 13…
Covid-19 first lockdown as a window into language acquisition: Associations between caregiver-child activities and vocabulary gains
The COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting closure of daycare centers worldwide, led to unprecedented changes in children’s learning environments. This period of increased time at home with caregivers, with limited access to external sources (e.g., daycares) provides a unique opportunity to examine the associations between the caregiver-child activities and children’s language development. The vocabularies of 1742 children aged 8-36 months across 1…
A Multilab Study of Bilingual Infants: Exploring the Preference for Infant-Directed Speech
From the earliest months of life, infants prefer listening to and learn better from infant-directed speech (IDS) than adult-directed speech (ADS). Yet, IDS differs within communities, across languages, and across cultures, both in form and in prevalence. This large-scale, multi-site study used the diversity of bilingual infant experiences to explore the impact of different types of linguistic experience on infants' IDS preference. As part of the …
Infants follow the gaze of same‐age peers, young children, and adults
Gaze following – infants’ orienting towards an object attended to by their social partner – has been linked to a range of socio‐cognitive skills. Despite considerable research on when infants follow the gaze of their social partners, studies have typically examined infants’ following of adults’ gaze. Therefore, little is known about whether or how gaze following is modulated by the characteristics of the model, such as their age. The current stud…
Children’s individual interests are sustained across development and predict later vocabulary development
While previous studies highlight the role that children’s interest in natural categories predicts their learning of new label-object associations in these categories, the long-term implications of such a relationship – the extent to which children’s interest shapes lexical development – remain unclear. The current study examines whether children’s interests in different natural object categories predict their subsequent interest and the number of…
The Development of Early Phonological Networks: An Analysis of Individual Longitudinal Vocabulary Growth
While much work has emphasized the role of the environment in language learning, research equally reports consistent effects of the child's knowledge, in particular, the words known to individual children, in steering further lexical development. Much of this work is based on cross‐sectional data, assuming that the words typically known to children at n months predict the words typically known to children at n +x months. Given acknowledged variab…
Does young children’s interest in categories influence their familiar word–object recognition?
Over the first 2 years, children learn to recognize many familiar objects when hearing its label. Nonetheless, recognition is influenced by factors such as category size, frequency, and salience. Since a child’s individual interests influence word learning , we hypothesized that they might also modulate attention during recognition. Twenty-two- to thirty-nine-month-old typically developing German children’s familiar word–object recognition was me…
Living in a digital ecology: The impact on social interaction, learning, and language development
This introduction presents the contributions to the special issue "Living in a Digital Ecology: The Impact on Social Interaction, Learning, and Language Development." We address current directions in the field and provide a summary of the main topics covered, in addition to providing directions for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)
Maternal information sampling targets children's knowledge gaps
According to recent computational approaches, when children are presented with information by knowledgeable others, children can make the pedagogical inference that their partner has chosen the best possible data in order for them to learn from. But do caregivers – the child's first teachers – really choose the best possible data for their child to learn? The current study examined the extent to which caregivers (and their 4- to 5.5-year-old chil…
Psychology (18 works) · Linguistics (15 works) · Language Development and Disorders (14 works) · Developmental psychology (12 works) · Reading and Literacy Development (10 works) · Cognitive psychology (9 works) · Child and Animal Learning Development (8 works) · Vocabulary (7 works) · Language acquisition (6 works) · Language development (6 works)