ABSTRACT
Discriminating temporal relationships in speech is crucial for speech and language development. However, temporal variation of vowels is difficult to perceive for young infants when it is determined by surrounding speech sounds. Using a familiarization-discrimination paradigm, we show that English-learning 6- to 9-month-olds are capable of discriminating non-native acoustic vowel duration differences that systematically vary with subsequent consonantal durations. Furthermore, temporal regularity of stimulus presentation potentially makes the task easier for infants. These findings show that young infants can process fine-grained temporal aspects of speech sounds, a capacity that lays the foundation for building a phonological system of their ambient language(s).
Subject(s)
Discrimination Learning/physiology , Language Development , Phonetics , Speech Perception/physiology , Acoustic Stimulation/methods , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , Speech/physiologyABSTRACT
In their everyday communication, parents do not only speak but also sing with their infants. However, it remains unclear whether infants' can discriminate speech from song or prefer one over the other. The present study examined the ability of 6- to 10-month-old infants (N = 66) from English-speaking households in London, Ontario, Canada to discriminate between auditory stimuli of native Russian-speaking and native English-speaking mothers speaking or singing to their infants. Infants listened significantly longer to the sung stimuli compared to the spoken stimuli. This is the first study to demonstrate that, even in the absence of other multimodal cues, infant listeners are able to discriminate between sung and spoken stimuli, and furthermore, prefer to listen to sung stimuli over spoken stimuli.
Subject(s)
Choice Behavior/physiology , Infant Behavior/physiology , Singing/physiology , Speech Perception/physiology , Female , Humans , Infant , MaleABSTRACT
Caregivers around the world sing to their infants. Infants not only prefer to listen to infant-directed singing over adult-directed singing, but infant-directed singing also serves a function, communicating affective information to preverbal infants to aid in adjusting arousal levels. Pitch variation has previously been identified as one performance feature that may help to convey the message. Earlier research has indicated that infants' pitch preferences are context dependent, suggesting that infants are tuned in to the communicative intent of infant-directed singing. However, there are several other performance-based features present in infant-directed singing that may also contribute to the affective message. The current study examined the role of context on infants' tempo preferences in sung playsongs and lullabies. Using a head-turn preference procedure, we measured 24 preverbal infants' natural preferences for foreign language playsongs and lullabies as a function of tempo. Infants showed a preference for fast over slow tempo playsongs, but no such context dependent preference was found within lullabies. Results partially support the role of tempo as a communicative feature of infant directed singing.
Subject(s)
Auditory Perception/physiology , Music/psychology , Pitch Perception/physiology , Time Perception/physiology , Canada , Child Development/physiology , Female , Humans , Infant , Language , Male , Play and PlaythingsABSTRACT
Preverbal infants are attuned to the different emotional messages contained in playsongs and lullabies. However, it is unclear which performance properties of singing underlie infants' perception of the communicative intent of infant-directed singing. Volkova, Trehub, and Schellenberg (2006) recently demonstrated that 6- and 7-month-old infants preferred low-pitched to high-pitched renditions of lullabies, suggesting that pitch may be one performance characteristic that conveys the communicative intent in infant-directed singing. In the current study, we evaluated 6- and 7-month-old infants' natural preferences for unfamiliar, expressive lullabies and playsongs as a function of pitch using a head-turn preference procedure. Infants preferred low-pitched over high-pitched versions of lullabies and high-pitched over low-pitched versions of playsongs. Results suggest that the overall pitch of a song is communicative to infants and that the affective nature of music can have an effect on infants' pitch preferences. That is, infants' preferences for pitch are context-dependent.
Subject(s)
Attention , Intention , Music/psychology , Pitch Perception , Social Perception , Emotions , Female , Humans , Infant , Language Development , Male , Play and Playthings , Reference ValuesABSTRACT
We show that infants' long-term memory representations for melodies are not just reduced to the structural features of relative pitches and durations, but contain surface or performance tempo- and timbre-specific information. Using a head turn preference procedure, we found that after a one week exposure to an old English folk song, infants preferred to listen to a novel folk song, indicating that they remembered the familiarized melody. However, if the tempo (25% faster or slower) or instrument timbre (harp vs. piano) of the familiarized melody was changed at test, infants showed no preference, indicating that they remembered the specific tempo and timbre of the melodies. The results are consistent with an exemplar-based model of memory in infancy rather than one in which structural features are extracted and performance features forgotten.
