Editing Cognitive development (section)

== Key Topics of Study in Cognitive Development ==

=== Language Acquisition ===
{{main|Language acquisition}}

A major, well-studied process and consequence of cognitive development is [[language acquisition]]. The traditional view was that this is the result of deterministic, human-specific genetic structures and processes. Other traditions, however, have emphasized the role of social experience in language learning. However, the relation of gene activity, experience, and language development is now recognized as incredibly complex and difficult to specify. Language development is sometimes separated into learning of phonology (systematic organization of sounds), morphology (structure of linguistic units—root words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation, etc.), syntax (rules of grammar within sentence structure), semantics (study of meaning), and discourse or pragmatics (relation between sentences). However, all of these aspects of language knowledge—which were originally posited by the linguist [[Noam Chomsky]] to be autonomous or separate—are now recognized to interact in complex ways.

It was not until 1962 that [[bilingualism]] had been accepted as a contributing factor to cognitive development.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Peal|first1=Elizabeth|last2=Lambert|first2=Wallace E|date=1962|title=The relation of bilingualism to intelligence|journal=Psychological Monographs|volume=76|issue=27|pages=1–23|doi=10.1037/h0093840}}</ref> There have been a number of studies showing how bilingualism contributes to the executive function of the brain, which is the main center at which cognitive development happens. According to Bialystok in "Bilingualism and the Development of Executive Function: The Role of Attention", children who are bilingual have to actively filter through the two different languages to select the one they need to use, which in turn makes the development stronger in that center.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Bialystok | first1 = Ellen | year = 2015 | title = Bilingualism And The Development Of Executive Function: The Role Of Attention | journal = Child Development Perspectives | volume = 9 | issue = 2| pages = 117–121 | doi=10.1111/cdep.12116| pmc = 4442091 | pmid=26019718}}</ref>