Nairán Ramírez-Esparza

Cross-Cultural Constructions of Self-Schemas Americans and Mexicans

A “spontaneous approach” was used to define self-schemas within and across cultures. Specifically, self-schemas were extracted from open-ended personality descriptions from Americans (n = 560) and Mexicans (n = 496) using the Meaning Extraction Method (MEM). The MEM relies on text analytic tools and factor analyses to learn about the most salient and chronically activated dimensions of personality that influence individuals’ self-defining process. The results showed that there were seven relevant self-schemas for Americans and six dimensions for Mexicans. Using qualitative and quantitative analyses, it was possible to observe which self-schemas were cross-cultural and which were culture-specific: Self-schemas common across cultures were Sociability, Values, Hobbies/Daily Activities, and Emotionality. Self-schemas unique to Americans were Fun, Existentialism, and College Experience. Self-schemas unique to Mexicans were Relationships and Simpatía. We discuss cross-cultural differences in self-schemas, along with the advantages and limitations of using the MEM in cross-cultural research.

Relationships between quantity of language input and brain responses in bilingual and monolingual infants.

The present investigation explored the relation between the amount of language input and neural responses in English monolingual (N=18) and Spanish-English bilingual (N=19) infants. We examined the mismatch negativity (MMN); both the positive mismatch response (pMMR) and the negative mismatch response (nMMR), and identify a relationship between amount of language input and brain measures of speech discrimination for native and non-native speech sounds (i.e., Spanish, English and Chinese). Brain responses differed as a function of language input for native speech sounds in both monolinguals and bilinguals. Monolingual infants with high language input showed nMMRs to their native English contrast. Bilingual infants with high language input in Spanish and English showed pMMRs to both their native contrasts. The non-native speech contrast showed different patterns of brain activation for monolinguals and bilinguals regardless of amount of language input. Our results indicate that phonological representations of non-native speech sounds in bilingual infants are dependent on the phonetic similarities between their native languages.

Food attitudes and well-being: The role of culture

Previous cross-cultural studies have found differences in food attitudes. For example, Americans are more concerned about weight gain than people from France and India. This study aimed to add on the literature on cross-cultural differences in food attitudes by comparing Euro-Americans with Costa Ricans on three different food attitudes: concern about gaining weight, food negativity, and the belief in the link between diet and health. This study also analyzes the implications of food attitudes on well-being. Specifically, within and across cultures, analyses were done to test the relationship between food attitudes and both anxiety and depression. Results showed that Costa Ricans are significantly less concerned about weight and less food negative than Euro-Americans. In further analyses an interaction was revealed, in which Costa Ricans that are high on weight concern but low on food negativity show lower levels of depression, compared to Euro-Americans. Results and implications for further research are discussed.

Infant-directed speech in English and Spanish: Assessments of monolingual and bilingual caregiver VOT

Abstract It has been shown that monolingual caregivers exaggerate acoustic speech cues in infant-directed speech (IDS), but less is known about the characteristics of IDS in late second-language (L2) bilingual caregivers. Furthermore, there is inconsistency in the literature regarding voice onset time (VOT) of stop consonants in IDS. The present study explores VOT of English and Spanish stops in English monolingual and Spanish-dominant bilingual caregivers, in infant- versus adult-directed speech registers. Both monolinguals and bilinguals exaggerate VOT in IDS; however, different patterns are noted across consonant type and language context. Also, bilinguals produced English stops with Spanish-like and English-like properties, depending upon their L2-proficiency. The characteristics of late-L2 Spanish–English bilingual IDS may create a complex phonetic environment for infants, which may in turn affect the perception and later production of stop consonants in dual language-learning infants.

Look Who?s Talking NOW! Parentese Speech, Social Context, and Language Development Across Time

In previous studies, we found that the social interactions infants experience in their everyday lives at 11- and 14-months of age affect language ability at 24 months of age. These studies investigated relationships between the speech style (i.e., parentese speech vs. standard speech) and social context [i.e., one-on-one (1:1) vs. group] of language input in infancy and later speech development (i.e., at 24 months of age), controlling for socioeconomic status (SES). Results showed that the amount of exposure to parentese speech-1:1 in infancy was related to productive vocabulary at 24 months. The general goal of the present study was to investigate changes in (1) the pattern of social interactions between caregivers and their children from infancy to childhood and (2) relationships among speech style, social context, and language learning across time. Our study sample consisted of 30 participants from the previously published infant studies, evaluated at 33 months of age. Social interactions were assessed at home using digital first-person perspective recordings of the auditory environment. We found that caregivers use less parentese speech-1:1, and more standard speech-1:1, as their children get older. Furthermore, we found that the effects of parentese speech-1:1 in infancy on later language development at 24 months persist at 33 months of age. Finally, we found that exposure to standard speech-1:1 in childhood was the only social interaction that related to concurrent word production/use. Mediation analyses showed that standard speech-1:1 in childhood fully mediated the effects of parentese speech-1:1 in infancy on language development in childhood, controlling for SES. This study demonstrates that engaging in one-on-one interactions in infancy and later in life has important implications for language development.

Naturalistic social communication and speech development in monolingual and bilingual infants.

This investigation explores how everyday social communication between parents and infants relates to speech development. This goal is accomplished by using the digital recorder LENA that monolingual (N=11) and Spanish‐English bilingual (N=10) 14‐month‐old infants wore for 4 days. Infants’ sample files (i.e., 160, 30‐s intervals per infant) were coded according to the social communication coding inventory, which includes categories such as “babbling” (e.g., canonical versus variegated babbling), “social interactions” (e.g., baby was with one other person or with a group of people), “how adults are talking” (e.g., “motherese” versus adult talk), and “activities” (e.g., adult is reading and/or teaching). The results showed that babbling relates to relevant social communication categories in both groups. For example, the percentage of time “motherese” is used relates positively to babbling, but adult directed speech relates negatively to babbling. Interestingly, the amount of time monolingual parents spend te...

Culture and Concealable Stigmatized Identities: Examining Anticipated Stigma in the United States and Turkey.

Previous work shows that people with concealable stigmatized identities are at risk for heightened psychological distress (depression and anxiety), and one predictor for increased distress is greater anticipated stigma. Anticipated stigma is the concern that 1 will receive disparagement and poor treatment from others if the stigmatized identity becomes known. Stigma is socially constructed and thus the anticipation and experience of stigma is likely to differ across cultures in which relational ties differ. In the current work, we examined anticipated stigma and psychological distress with Turkish (N = 147) and American (N = 197) individuals with concealable stigmatized identities. The Turkish culture is rated higher in collectivism than the American culture and thus people with concealable stigmatized identities may be more concerned about others’ evaluations of them than people living in the more individualistic American culture. Results show that both Turkish and American participants with higher anticipated stigma experienced more anxiety and depression, replicating earlier work. In addition, Turkish individuals experienced higher mean levels of anticipated stigma and depression than their American counterparts. The effects of culture on depression were partially mediated by anticipated stigma. Thus, the relationship between anticipated stigma and psychological distress is replicable but may also be exacerbated or attenuated by cultural factors.

Speech perception development in monolingual and bilingual infants

We investigated the relation between language exposure and neural commitment to the phonetic units of language in 11-14 month-old English monolingual (N=22) and English-Spanish bilingual infants (N=22). Our previous work suggested that bilingual infants develop phonetic neural commitment at a different pace than their monolingual peers (Garcia-Sierra et al., 2011). However, interpretation of the bilingual data requires testing a speech contrast that is non-native for both bilinguals and monolinguals. We assessed language exposure using LENA digital recorders. Neural speech discrimination (English, Spanish, Mandarin) was tested using event-related potentials (ERPs) to determine the Mismatch Response (MMR). Both groups showed significant correlations between MMRs and language exposure. However, monolinguals showed negative MMRs and negative correlations between MMR and exposure; bilinguals showed positive MMRs and positive correlations with exposure. Negative MMRs are interpreted as an established commitmen...

Speech discrimination of English, Spanish, and Mandarin consonants in monolingual and bilingual infants: An event related potentials experiment.

The goal of this investigation was to compare speech discrimination in 11–14‐month‐old infants who are being raised in either monolingual English (N=22) or bilingual Spanish‐English (N= 22) homes. The participants’ neural activity associated with the ability to discriminate English, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese consonants was assessed using event related potentials (ERPs) in separate ERP sessions. The goal of the experiments is to compare ERPs for the phonetic units that infants have experienced as opposed to those they have never been exposed to. The native language neural commitment (NLNC) hypothesis holds that, by 11 months of age, infants respond differently to the phonetic units of native language(s) as opposed to non‐native language(s). Comparisons between monolingual and bilingual infants should help resolve whether monolingual and bilingual infants are on the same timetable regarding NLNC. Our results will provide evidence about how early language exposure influences speech discrimination in mono...

Preattentive language effects in bilinguals.

Event related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from Spanish‐English bilinguals (N=11) to test if their pre‐attentive speech discrimination changes depending on the language they are using at the moment. ERPs were recorded in two language contexts (i.e., participants silently read magazines in the language of interest). Two speech contrast conditions were recorded in each language context. In the unique to English condition, the speech sounds represented two different sounds for the English language, but represented the same sound for the Spanish language. In the unique to Spanish condition, the speech sounds represented two different sounds for the Spanish language, but represented the same sounds for the English language. We expected that bilinguals in the unique to English condition would pre‐attentively discriminate the sound during the English language context, but not during the Spanish language context. The opposite was expected for the unique to Spanish condition. A monolingual control group (N=9) w...