Language bias of babies

One of the interesting findings of Elizabeth Spelke’s Harvard baby brain research lab is that while babies prefer looking at pictures of people of their own race over other races, they are much more biased about language.

‘They like toys more that are associated with someone who has spoken their language. They prefer to eat foods offered to them by a native speaker compared to a speaker of a foreign language. And older children say that they want to be friends with someone who speaks in their native accent.’ Accents and vernacular, far more than race, seem to influence the people we like. ‘Children would rather be friends with someone who is from a different race and speaks with a native accent versus somebody who is their own race but speaks with a foreign accent.’

• babies
• brain
• science