Human Development Colloquium: Virginia Salo, PhD (NIH)

Language Development Through a Social-Interactionist Lens

Abstract: Communicative skills develop within social interactions. During the first few years of life, the interactions a child has with their caregivers is the primary source of input that a child receives; and the cognitive and social stimulation that occurs through these interactions provides a rich source of early learning that has lasting effects on development. Indeed, all contemporary models of language-learning rely heavily on the language input that occurs in social interactions, primarily with adult caregivers. Children’s broader social-cognitive abilities also serve the language development process by helping to organize the input they receive in these interactions. In this talk, I will discuss recent research systematically examining the social contexts and social-cognitive skills that support language development in infancy and early childhood. Throughout, I will highlight potentially modifiable targets that could be influential in improving children’s early experiences and outcomes.

Bio: Virginia C. Salo, Ph.D., became a program director with CDBB in 2023. She manages the branch’s Language Development and Multilingualism Program. Prior to joining NICHD, Dr. Salo was a Society for Research in Child Development/American Association for the Advancement of Science Federal Executive Branch Policy Fellow. Her research examined how caregiver–child interactions develop and predict individual differences in children’s social-cognitive and language development, with a focus on preverbal infant communication, neural mechanisms supporting language development, and identification of modifiable targets for intervention