Stephanie Wermelinger
Biographic Data
| ID | 8525429 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stephanie Wermelinger |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stephanie |
| FAMILY NAME | Wermelinger |
| SIGNATURE | WERMELINGER S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Zurich |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6500-9108 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 8 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Diversity in monolingual and multilingual communicative environments and its relation to vocabulary in early childhood
Research on multilingualism often assumes homogeneity within monolingual and multilingual groups, overlooking diversity in language environments, such as differences in language exposure and combinations. This study examines three such diversity indicators – language entropy, context entropy and linguistic distance – and their relationship to vocabulary in 4- to 5-year-old mono- and multilingual children ( N = 257). Results reveal significantly g…
Do Facial Masks Impact Infants' Joint Attention? A Within‐Participant Laboratory Study
During the COVID‐19 pandemic, children were repeatedly confronted with people wearing facial masks. Little is known, however, about how this affected young children's interactions with their caregivers. This preregistered experimental within‐participants study explored whether facial masks influence young children's initiation and response to joint attention. Using two structured tasks and one free‐play task, we measured joint attention episodes …
What's the point? Infants' and adults' perception of different pointing gestures
Adults and infants as young as 4 months old orient to pointing gestures. Although adults are shown to orient faster to index‐finger pointing than other hand shapes, it is unknown whether hand shapes influence infants' perception of pointing. In this study, we used a spatial cueing paradigm on an eye tracker to investigate whether and to what extent adults and 12‐month‐old infants orient their attention in the direction of pointing gestures with d…
How experience shapes infants' communicative behaviour: Comparing gaze following in infants with and without pandemic experience
The COVID‐19 pandemic has been influencing people's social life substantially. Everybody, including infants and children needed to adapt to changes in social interactions (e.g., social distancing) and to seeing other people wearing facial masks. In this study, we investigated whether these pandemic‐related changes influenced 12‐ to 15‐months‐old infants' reactions to observed gaze shifts (i.e., their gaze following). In two eye‐tracking tasks, we…
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 …
The development of gaze following in monolingual and bilingual infants: A multi‐laboratory study
Determining the meanings of words requires language learners to attend to what other people say. However, it behooves a young language learner to simultaneously encode relevant non‐verbal cues, for example, by following the direction of their eye gaze. Sensitivity to cues such as eye gaze might be particularly important for bilingual infants, as they encounter less consistency between words and objects than monolingual infants, and do not always …
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…
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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…
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 …
The development of gaze following in monolingual and bilingual infants: A multi‐laboratory study
Determining the meanings of words requires language learners to attend to what other people say. However, it behooves a young language learner to simultaneously encode relevant non‐verbal cues, for example, by following the direction of their eye gaze. Sensitivity to cues such as eye gaze might be particularly important for bilingual infants, as they encounter less consistency between words and objects than monolingual infants, and do not always …
How experience shapes infants' communicative behaviour: Comparing gaze following in infants with and without pandemic experience
The COVID‐19 pandemic has been influencing people's social life substantially. Everybody, including infants and children needed to adapt to changes in social interactions (e.g., social distancing) and to seeing other people wearing facial masks. In this study, we investigated whether these pandemic‐related changes influenced 12‐ to 15‐months‐old infants' reactions to observed gaze shifts (i.e., their gaze following). In two eye‐tracking tasks, we…
What's the point? Infants' and adults' perception of different pointing gestures
Adults and infants as young as 4 months old orient to pointing gestures. Although adults are shown to orient faster to index‐finger pointing than other hand shapes, it is unknown whether hand shapes influence infants' perception of pointing. In this study, we used a spatial cueing paradigm on an eye tracker to investigate whether and to what extent adults and 12‐month‐old infants orient their attention in the direction of pointing gestures with d…
Diversity in monolingual and multilingual communicative environments and its relation to vocabulary in early childhood
Research on multilingualism often assumes homogeneity within monolingual and multilingual groups, overlooking diversity in language environments, such as differences in language exposure and combinations. This study examines three such diversity indicators – language entropy, context entropy and linguistic distance – and their relationship to vocabulary in 4- to 5-year-old mono- and multilingual children ( N = 257). Results reveal significantly g…
Do Facial Masks Impact Infants' Joint Attention? A Within‐Participant Laboratory Study
During the COVID‐19 pandemic, children were repeatedly confronted with people wearing facial masks. Little is known, however, about how this affected young children's interactions with their caregivers. This preregistered experimental within‐participants study explored whether facial masks influence young children's initiation and response to joint attention. Using two structured tasks and one free‐play task, we measured joint attention episodes …
Developmental psychology (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Child and Animal Learning Development (6 works) · Language Development and Disorders (5 works) · Communication (4 works) · Linguistics (4 works) · Cognitive psychology (3 works) · Preference (3 works) · Active listening (2 works) · Computer Science (2 works)