Spectral complexity and infant attention.
In two experiments, infants selectively attended to auditory stimuli that presented an increasingly complex spectral structure. Using 2- and 4-month-olds as subjects, the first study demonstrated this selectivity in comparison to the rate of acoustic change. The second study demonstrated the increased attention of 4-month-olds in response to an increasingly complex structure. Results are discussed with respect to the neural activity produced by these stimuli along the auditory pathway, and an analogy to the literature on visual attention is drawn.
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D001288:Attention; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009431:Neural Conduction; D000159:Vestibulocochlear Nerve / Q000502:physiology