Alexandra Karousou 1, Laura Vivas Fernández 2

Configural Frequency Analysis (CFA): Its application in the study of early language development from a dynamic systems perspective

1 Democritus University of Thrace– Greece,

2 Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Spain

The pace, the extent and the variability of the changes that take place during the early stages of development, as well as the multitude of factors of diverse nature (biological, cognitive, emotional, social, cultural, etc.) that interact to affect its developmental course, have already led a number of scientists to introduce the dynamic systems perspective in the study of childdevelopment (e.g.,Spencer, et al. 2006; Thelen & Smith, 1994).According to this theoretical framework, development is the emergent product of dynamic interactions among many factors which operate simultaneously on the developing child.

One of the most important challenges for the study of development from this complexpoint of view, thus,concerns the use of adequate methodological tools that would enable the tracing of the interconnected development of severalvariables that would permit the study of the dynamic interactions that take place simultaneously among many dimensions of development (Karousou, 2014).

We present a novel application of a statistical tool -the‘Configural Frequency Analysis’ (CFA;Bergman, Magnusson, & El-Khouri, 2003; Von Eye, Mair, & Mun, 2010)-in the study of early language development, aiming at the detection and developmental tracing of combinatory patterns which result from the interaction among several variables of infant vocal activity.

Theutility of CFAis illustrated through its application in two large datasets:

(a) a dense longitudinal case study of a Spanish girl (7-18 mos. N=1994 vocalizations)

(b) a cross-sectional study of 28 Spanish children (10-23 mos., N=4394 vocalizations).

Results are presented on the dynamic patterns which result from the interaction among various dimensions of their vocal productions.The importance of the proposed conceptual shift towards a dynamic approach to language development, as well as the methodological implications it brings for the study of human development are discussed.

References

Bergman, L. R., Magnusson, D., & El-Khouri, B. M. (2003). Studying Individual Development in an Interindividual Context. A Person-Oriented Approach. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Karousou, A. (2014). Aprender la forma de las palabras: el proceso en su complejidad. En: N. Caparrós, R.Cruz Roche (Eds.), Viaje a la Complejidad. Vol. 4, 342-351. Madrid: Bibliotéca Nueva.

Spencer, J. P., Clearfield, M., Corbetta, D., Ulrich, B., Buchanan, P., & Schöner, G. (2006). Moving toward a grand theory of development: In memory of Esther Thelen. Child Development, 77, 1521-1538.

Thelen, E. and Smith, L.B. (1994). A Dynamic Systems Approach to the Development of Cognition and Action, MIT Press.

Von Eye, A., Mair, P., & Mun, E.-Y. (2010). Advances in Configural Frequency Analysis. New York: The Guildford Press.