Infant phonetic perception reorganizes in accordance with the native language by 10 months of age. One mechanism that may underlie this perceptual change is distributional learning, a statistical analysis of the distributional frequency of speech sounds. Previous distributional learning studies have tested infants of 6-8 months, an age at which…

One experiment determined that the minimum angle at which infants can discriminate 2 sound presentations decreases substantially toward 48 weeks of age. In 3 succeeding experiments, infants aged 16, 20, and 28 weeks were able to discriminate sounds presented to each ear between 50 and 75 microseconds apart. (BC)

Tested infants of six to eight months and children of 5.5 years for their discrimination of silent intervals between elements of auditory patterns. Both groups could detect increments, and the context of a temporal increment influenced its detectability. (SKC)

Two experiments involving a total of 177 infants 8 to 11 months of age found that subjects used a global processing strategy like adults' in discriminating transformations of a six-tone melody. Subjects needed melodic contour and frequency range to judge new sequences, but, in easy tasks, they also used absolute frequency. (CB)

Sixty-four infants viewed side-by-side videotapes of toy trains (in four visual conditions) and listened to sounds at increasing or decreasing amplitude designed to match one of the videos. Results suggested that five-month olds were sensitive to auditory-visual distance relations and that change in size was an important visual depth cue. (MDM)

Over half the world's population speaks a tone language, yet infant speech perception research has typically focused on consonants and vowels. Very young infants can discriminate a wide range of native and nonnative consonants and vowels, and then in a process of "perceptual reorganization" over the 1st year, discrimination of most…

This study explored three aspects of the 2-month-old's perception of multisyllabic utterances. Questions addressed were: (1) Do infants perceive phonetic contrasts occurring either in the initial (Bada-Gada) or medial (Daba-Daga) positions of multisyllabic utterances; (2) Are infants more likely to perceive these contrasts in stressed as opposed…

Infants who were in darkness were presented with objects that made sounds. Objects were within reach and out of reach. Infants reached into the target area more often when the object was in reach than when the object was beyond reach. Infants reached correctly in the dark for objects placed off midline. (BC)

The discrimination of minimally paired speech sounds by seven severely retarded children (mean age 3.2 years, and mean IQ 38.4) was compared with the discrimination performance of eight normally developing 7-month-old infants. (Author/PHR)

Research findings are reviewed concerning infants' abilities to discriminate parents from other social stimuli during the first 6 months of life. The term "discrimination" is used to signify the ability of infants to respond differentially to two or more social stimuli. Studies reviewed are categorized in terms of the visual, auditory,…

Examined infants' tendency, from a few days to nine months of age, to prefer infant-directed over adult-directed speech. Results suggest that exaggerated pitch contours that characterize infant-directed speech may become salient communicative signals for infants through language-rich, interactive experiences with caretakers and increased…

A review of research leads to the proposal that infants' perception of "fragile" contrasts is lost due to their lack of exposure to particular sounds. Perception of "robust" contrasts is lost around the onset of formal language training due to children's lack of experience with phonologically irrelevant sounds. (Author/CB)

The development of sensory and perceptual ability in infants is an important area of infancy research. This book reflects current knowledge of perceptual development and points to some of the many questions that remain unanswered. The book is divided into four parts. Part 1, "How the Visual System Develops: Normal and Abnormal…

This monograph is a collection of papers describing a series of loosely related studies of visual attention, auditory stimulation, and language discrimination in young infants. Titles include: (1) Infant Attention and Discrimination: Methodological and Substantive Issues; (2) The Addition of Auditory Stimulation (Music) and an Interspersed…