Dr. Rachel Albert, associate professor of psychology, published “Infant vocalizations elicit simplified speech in childcare” in Infancy with co-authors Morgan Ernst ’21 and Dr. Claire Vallotton (Michigan State University). The paper demonstrates that infants use their vocalizations to actively shape their learning environments in multiple social settings—including childcare classrooms! Just like mothers, childcare teachers simplify their speech when responding to baby babbles to provide simpler more learnable information at moments infants are more receptive to learning. 

Dr. Rachel Albert, associate professor of psychology, presented “Infant vocalizations elicit simplified speech in childcare settings.,” at the International Congress on Infant Studies in Ottawa, Canada, and virtually at the National Research Conference on Early Childhood. The research was co-authored by Morgan Ernst ’21 (psychology) and Reagan Little ’23, M’24 (communication sciences & disorders/speech-language pathology).