Effects of Parental Interaction on Infant Vocalization Rate, Variability and Vocal Type
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: Examination of infant vocalization patterns across interactive and noninteractive contexts may facilitate better understanding of early communication development. In the current study, with 24 infant-parent dyads, infant volubility increased significantly when parent interaction ceased (presenting a “still face,” or SF) after a period of normal interaction (“face-to-face,” or FF). Infant volubility continued at the higher rate than in FF when the parent re-engaged (“reunion,” or RE). Additionally, during SF, the variability in volubility across infants decreased, suggesting the infants adopted relatively similar rates of vocalization to re-engage the parent. The pattern of increasing volubility in SF was seen across all of the most common speech-like vocal types of the first half-year of life (e.g., full vowels, quasivowels, squeals, growls). Parent and infant volubility levels were not significantly correlated. The findings suggest that by six months of age infants have learned that their vocalizations have social value and that changes in volubility can affect parental engagement.
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Vocal exploration and interaction in the emergence of speech, Social-Emotional Development of Infants At Risk for Autism Spectrum, Infant vocalization and the foundations for speech, Emotion, communication, & EEG: Development & risk, Modeling the Dynamics of Early Communication and Development
OpenAlex ID: W2016937451