Multimodality in infancy: vocal-motor and speech-gesture coordinations in typical and atypical development

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Linguistics
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Expressive behavior is multimodal from birth, with early coordinations refined for communication.
• The developmental origins of the speech-gesture link remain largely unknown.
• Existing research primarily focuses on established gesture-speech communication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the developmental origins of the gesture-speech link in infants.
• To review evidence connecting early sensorimotor activity to later communicative abilities.
• To understand the cognitive interdependence of gesture and speech.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing empirical evidence on infant sensorimotor activity.
• Analysis of hand-mouth linkages in non-communicative infant behavior.
• Synthesis of findings related to vocal-motor system couplings in infancy.

Main Results:

• Hand-mouth linkages in infancy may represent the foundational sensorimotor basis for later speech-gesture coordination.
• Early vocal-motor couplings provide insights into the development of multimodal communication.
• These early links correlate with later language development and potential indicators of autism spectrum disorder.

Conclusions:

• The study of infant sensorimotor activity offers crucial insights into the origins of the adult speech-gesture system.
• Understanding these early links is vital for comprehending language development and delay.
• Early identification of developmental differences, such as in autism spectrum disorder, may benefit from this perspective.