Most research on object individuation in infants has focused on the visual domain. Yet the problem of object individuation is not unique to the visual system, but shared by other sensory modalities. This research examined 4.5-month-old infants' capacity to use auditory information to individuate objects. Infants were presented with events in which…

In this paper, we argue that music cognition involves the use of acoustic and auditory codes to evoke a variety of conscious experiences. The variety of domains that are encompassed by music is so diverse that it is unclear whether a single domain of structure or experience is defining. Music is best understood as a form of communication in which…

"Science Briefs" summarize the findings and implications of a recent study in basic science or clinical research. This Brief reports on the study "Perinatal Exposure to a Noncoplanar Bichlorinated Biphenol Alters Tonotopy, Receptive Fields and Plasticity in the Auditory Cortex" (T. Kenet; R. C. Froemke; C. E. Schreiner; I. N. Pessah; and M. M.…

This study examined changes in rhythmic arm shaking and laterality biases in infants observed longitudinally at three points: just prior to, at, and just following reduplicated babble onset. Infants (ranging in age from 4 to 9 months at babble onset) were videotaped at home as they played with two visually identical audible and silent rattles…

Spoken language consists of a complex, sequentially arrayed signal that contains patterns that can be described in terms of statistical relations among language units. Previous research has suggested that a domain-general ability to learn structured sequential patterns may underlie language acquisition. To test this prediction, we examined the…

Purpose: This study investigated the acoustic characteristics of pediatric cochlear implant (CI) recipients' imitative production of rising speech intonation, in relation to the perceptual judgments by listeners with normal hearing (NH). Method: Recordings of a yes-no interrogative utterance imitated by 24 prelingually deafened children with a CI…

Background: Children with cerebral palsy (CP) and accompanying disabilities are prone to reading difficulties. The aim of the present study was to examine the foundations of phonological awareness in pre-school children with CP in comparison with a normally developing control group. Rhyme perception was regarded as an early indicator of…

Young infants discriminate both native and nonnative phonetic contrasts, but 10- to 12-month-olds and adults fail to discriminate some nonnative contrasts. To explain this, Best, McRoberts, and Sithole (1988) hypothesized that at the age of 10-12 months, a phonological influence begins by means of which nonnative sounds are assimilated to native…

An appoach to the use of sound in computer interfaces, proposed in this article, emphasizes the role of sound in conveying information about the world to the listener. This approach argues that auditory icons, i.e., caricatures of naturally occurring sounds, provide a natural way to represent dimensional data as well as conceptual objects in a…

Phonological fusion occurs when the phonemes of two different speech stimuli are combined into a new percept that is longer and linguistically more complex than either of the two inputs. The present article is an investigation of the conditions necessary and sufficient for fusion to occur. (Editor/RK)

Research is reported which examined the effect of various factors on the frequency of phonological responses. Phonemic order and location of clusters within a syllable affected fusion. Initial stop-liquid clusters fused readily; final liquid-stop clusters rarely fused. Some subjects fused on most or all trials; others fused less frequently.…