Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-5g6vh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T18:43:04.278Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Infant vocalizations and changes in experience*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

D. D. Hilke
D. D. Hilke*
Affiliation:
Cornell University and Smithsonian Institution
*
Department of Public Programs, Room MB66, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560, USA.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The possibility that infant vocalizations occur in conjunction with significant changes in experience was tested in a study of seven infants aged 0;8. Each infant was videotaped during an isolated freeplay session with each of three toys. Two indices of changing experience were used to identify portions of the tape where increased vocalizing was expected. The Place Index identified potentially significant changes in experience via major changes in locus of attention. The Reaction Index employed certain rapid changes in expression (e.g. smile, startle, browchange as indicators of corresponding changes in subjective experience. As predicted, periods of the tape encompassed by either or both of these indices evidenced significantly more vocalizations than remaining portions of the tape. Implications of these results for theories of infant communicative competence and for infant language development are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , February 1988 , pp. 1 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The research reported in this article was supported in part by the National Institute of Mental Health which funded substantial portions of the author's graduate training and research at Cornell University.

References

REFERENCES

Berlyne, D. (1974). Information and motivation. In Silverstein, A. (ed.), Human communications: theoretical explorations. Hillsdale N J: Lawrence.Google Scholar
Bloom, K. (1977). Patterning of infant vocal behaviour. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 23. 367–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brazelton, T., Tronick, E., Adamson, L., Als, H. & Wise, S. (1975). Early mother-infant reciprocity. In O'Conner, M. (ed.), Parent-infant interaction. Amsterdam: Elsevatt.Google Scholar
Bruner, J. (1977). Early social interaction and language acquisition. In Schaffer, H. (ed.), Studies in mother-infant interaction. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bruner, J. (1983). Child's talk: learning to use language. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Bullowa, M. (1975). When infants and adults communicate, how do they synchronize their behaviors? In Kendon, A., Harris, R. & Key, M. (eds), Organization of behavior in face-to-face interaction. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Clark, D. & Hilke, D. (1980). Cognition related vocalizations in infancy: a case study. Paper presented to the International Conference on Infant Studies, New Haven, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Fogel, A. (1977). Temporal organization in mother-infant interaction. In Schaffer, H. (ed.), Studies in mother-infant interaction. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Furrow, D. & James, P. (in press). Attentional change and vocalization: Evidence for a relation. Child Development.Google Scholar
Greenfield, P. (1978). Informativeness, presupposition, and semantic choice in single-word utterances. In Waterson, N. & Snow, C. E. (eds), The development of communication. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Greenfield, P. (1982). The role of perceived variability in the transition to language. Journal of Child Language 5. 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenfield, P. & Zukow, P. (1978). Why do children say what they say when they say it?: an experimental approach to the psychogenesis of presupposition. In Nelson, K. (ed.), Children's language. Vol. 1. New York: Gardner Press.Google Scholar
Hilke, D. (1983). Predicting the occurrence of infant vocalizations: a cognitive perspective. Paper presented to the Society for Research in Child Development.Google Scholar
Hilke, D. (1985). The systematic occurrence of infant vocalizations prior to language. Doctoral dissertation, Cornell University. Dissertation Abstracts International 46. 3258.Google Scholar
Kagan, J. (1971). Change and continuity in infancy. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Kay, K. (1977). Toward the origin of dialogue. In Schaffer, H. (ed.), Studies in mother-infant interaction. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Lempert, H. & Kinsbourne, M. (1985). Possible origin of speech in selective orienting. Psychological Bulletin 97. 62–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCall, R. (1972). Smiling and vocalization in infants as indices of perceptual-cognitive processes. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 18. 341–7.Google Scholar
Ninio, A. & Bruner, J. (1978). The achievement and antecedents of labelling. Journal of Child Language 5. 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Conner, M. (ed.) (1975). Parent-infant interaction. Amsterdam: Elsevatt.Google Scholar
Papoušek, H. & Papoušek, M. (1975). Cognitive aspects of pre-verbal social interaction between human infants and adults. In O'Conner, M. (ed.), Parent-infant interaction. Amsterdam: Elsevatt.Google Scholar
Ratner, N. & Bruner, J. (1978). Games, social exchange and the acquisition of language. Journal of Child Language 5. 391–401.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schaffer, H. (ed.) (1977). Early interactive development. In Studies in mother-infant nteraction. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Schaffer, H. (ed.) (1977). Studies in mother-infant interaction. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Schaffer, H., Collis, G. & Parsons, G. (1977). Vocal interchange and visual regard in verbal and pre-verbal children. In Schaffer, H. (ed.), Studies in mother-infant interaction. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Shultz, T. & Zigler, E. (1970). Emotional concomitants of visual mastery in infants: the effects of stimulus movement on smiling and vocalizing. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 10. 390–402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stern, D., Beebe, R., Jaflfe, J. & Bennett, S. (1977). The infant's stimulus world during social interaction: a study of caregiver behaviors with particular reference to repetition and timing. In Schaffer, H. (ed.), Studies in mother-infant interaction. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge MA: M.I.T. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Watson, J. (1972). Smiling, cooing and ‘the game’. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 18. 323–39.Google Scholar
Zelazo, P., Hopkins, R., Jacobson, S. & Kagan, J. (1974). Psychological reactivity to discrepent events: support for the curvilinear hypothesis. Cognition 2. 385–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar