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Key points
- Before they are 5 months old, infants know their own names.
- Name cues help infants pay attention and process new information.
- Helping babies at risk for autism to recognize their own names may be an important step for early intervention.
Imagine walking down a crowded New York City sidewalk and hearing a shout, “Hey, watch out!” Do you stop? How might you know for whom this signal is intended? Now let’s imagine that your name is Max. You hear someone shout, “Max, Look out!” You stop and notice that if you took another step forward, you may be featured in the next New York Post article featuring the latest bike accident.
Names cue attention
You know your name and you recognize it quickly. One’s name is an important signal for survival. This is one reason why infants recognize their names so early on in development. Before they are 5 months old, infants know their own names. They listen longer to their own name compared to the name of other babies.
Research conducted by my own laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences and published in PLOS shows that infants use their own names to learn about objects in the world. By examining electrical brain activity in 5-month-olds, my colleagues Eugenio Parise and Angela Friederici and I discovered that infants use their own names as social cues. The name cue helped infants to pay attention and process new information.
Babies with autism process names differently
Melda Arslan and colleagues at the University of Ghent recently followed up on our research by studying infants at risk for autism. In this research, "The Development of Neural Responses to Hearing Their Own Name in Infants at Low and High Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder," infants at high risk for autism processed their names differently by 14 months of age. Learning to recognize their own names may be an important step for early intervention. Name recognition helps us to determine the relevance of vast information all around us.
Names help us connect
At the advice of my friends Josh and Serene Powers, I recently had the opportunity to create a new name for myself. Unfortunately, my name did not seem to translate into Chinese. The most fitting name for me seemed to be 龙光 龙 or Sunshine Dragon. Finally, a name that fit me to a tee! I recognized the cue immediately and could write it soon later. It helped me better to connect with friends and colleagues from across cultures.
Soon, there may be a Sunshine Dragon book and song. Names and popular culture go hand and hand. In the paper, “Brandy, You’re a Fine Name: Popular Music and the Naming of Infant Girls from 1965-1985," Napierski-Pranci explains that the song “Michelle” by the Beatles won the Grammy for Song of The Year in 1966. The girl's name "Michelle" was the second most popular that year. It all makes me wonder how many children will be named Sunshine Dragon in 2023!
