Researcher in child language development @MPI for Psycholinguistics & Radboud Uni. She/her. "All models are wrong but some are useful" (George Box 1978). https://www.mpi.nl/people/rowland-carolinehttps://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.social/post/3mm37frmrls2q"However, the education system alone cannot eradicate the attainment gap, so a true strategy would include a plan to reduce and ultimately to end child poverty in the UK" [contains quote post or other embedded content]17 May 2026 20:32 +0000at://did:plc:iqz3cexpleulzmhlmugrputh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mm37frmrls2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.social/post/3mlzzz73wl22fI can't read the original NYT article cos of the paywall but @meganfigueroa.bsky.social is absolutely correct that babytalk is absolutely not the answer to why humans have language & apes not. Cultural learning now, that is another story. But even then, that happens in myriads of different ways.... [contains quote post or other embedded content]17 May 2026 09:23 +0000at://did:plc:iqz3cexpleulzmhlmugrputh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlzzz73wl22fhttps://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.social/post/3mlv3rdis222g"We are largely confusing linguistic coherence for ontological intelligence" (quote from a redditor whose name I am - unforgivably - unable to recall to cite!) [contains quote post or other embedded content]15 May 2026 10:11 +0000at://did:plc:iqz3cexpleulzmhlmugrputh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlv3rdis222ghttps://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.social/post/3mlun456zm226Just started planning lectures for School on Analytical Connectionism. 1st step - synthesising the literature & figuring out what we 100% know - & thus needs to be modelled - & where findings dont replicate (abstract algorithmic rules in infancy anyone?) www.analytical-connectionism.net/school/2026/15 May 2026 05:48 +0000at://did:plc:iqz3cexpleulzmhlmugrputh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlun456zm226https://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.social/post/3mlstnbcruc23In our latest paper on how multimodal interaction supports language acquisition, Zhang, Dong et al use head mounted eyetracking technology to demonstrate (!) the role of demonstratives (this/that) in helping children identify the correct referent in a complex visual scene https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/cu465_v114 May 2026 12:40 +0000at://did:plc:iqz3cexpleulzmhlmugrputh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlstnbcruc23https://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.social/post/3mlif4agk4c2nThis should probably be required reading for anyone interacting with Brits. I use *all* of these! https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260506-what-british-people-really-mean-when-they-say-sorry10 May 2026 08:53 +0000at://did:plc:iqz3cexpleulzmhlmugrputh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlif4agk4c2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.social/post/3mlieeheuq222Our *Monster paper* is finally out. Begun instead of data collection during covid for Melis's PhD, expanded during Jenni's PhD, & finally now published. Some papers are worth the wait https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/infa.7008810 May 2026 08:40 +0000at://did:plc:iqz3cexpleulzmhlmugrputh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlieeheuq222https://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.social/post/3mlc3dfq6b22kAbstract submission for Many Paths to Language conference at fabulous @mpi-nl.bsky.social now extended until 20th May. This 3-day conference focuses on meaningful differences in the way children acquire language. With keynotes by Allison Fitch & Amanda Seidl. https://www.mpi.nl/events/many-paths-language-mpal-202607 May 2026 20:42 +0000at://did:plc:iqz3cexpleulzmhlmugrputh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlc3dfq6b22khttps://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.social/post/3mklf6pyaok2lPleased to report that the Liver birds, clearly visible from my hotel room, are still there, so Liverpool is unlikely to sink into the sea any time soon. I'll keep a eye out. https://explore-liverpool.com/a-tale-of-the-liver-birds-the-hidden-birds-of-the-city/28 Apr 2026 20:07 +0000at://did:plc:iqz3cexpleulzmhlmugrputh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mklf6pyaok2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.social/post/3mklchod5zs2lToday I ready yet another article where I thought "how on earth did something this flawed get accepted in PNAS ... oh its contributed". PNAS really needs to stop publishing via this route. Evidence seems to back me up https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11192-024-05115-y28 Apr 2026 19:19 +0000at://did:plc:iqz3cexpleulzmhlmugrputh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mklchod5zs2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.social/post/3mkjtfhrnjs2uIt was a privilege to brainstorm with this group of brilliant colleagues, and gave us the chance to use one of my favourite quotes on nativism: that even ‘the behaviorist is knowingly and cheerfully up to his neck in innate mechanisms’ (Quine, 1969, pp. 95– 96). [contains quote post or other embedded content]28 Apr 2026 05:16 +0000at://did:plc:iqz3cexpleulzmhlmugrputh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkjtfhrnjs2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.social/post/3mkabi6e2yk2bOne of the best answers to a question I have ever heard at a conference: "I'm not sure I have anything smart to say about that" 🤷‍♀️24 Apr 2026 10:02 +0000at://did:plc:iqz3cexpleulzmhlmugrputh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkabi6e2yk2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.social/post/3mk6uv5omwc26The perfect solution for those of us whose annoying #OS principles get in the way of producing the nice clean results that high impact journals demand. [contains quote post or other embedded content]23 Apr 2026 20:44 +0000at://did:plc:iqz3cexpleulzmhlmugrputh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk6uv5omwc26https://bsky.app/profile/carorowland.bsky.social/post/3mk5hdnoml22o5 minutes to the start of my first ever Prominence in Language conference. Excited but nervous to share my thoughts tomorrow on the Role of Multimodal Intetaction in Children's Language Acquisition. https://sfb1252.uni-koeln.de/veranstaltungen/internationale-tagungen-workshops/icpl-iv-202623 Apr 2026 07:09 +0000at://did:plc:iqz3cexpleulzmhlmugrputh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk5hdnoml22o