Auditory-oral matching behavior in newborns.
Twenty-five newborn infants were tested for auditory-oral matching behavior when presented with the consonant sound /m/ and the vowel sound /a/ - a precursor behavior to vocal imitation. Auditory-oral matching behavior by the infant was operationally defined as showing the mouth movement appropriate for producing the model sound just heard (mouth opening for /a/ and mouth clutching for /m/), even when the infant produced no sound herself. With this new dependent measure, the current study is the first to show matching behavior to consonant sounds in newborns: infants showed significantly more instances of mouth opening after /a/ models than after /m/ models, and more instances of mouth clutching after /m/ models than after /a/ models. The results are discussed in the context of theories of active intermodal mapping and innate releasing mechanisms.
Chen
Xin
X
Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, USA.
Striano
Tricia
T
Rakoczy
Hannes
H
D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D009055:Mouth / Q000502:physiology; D013016:Sound