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Related Experiment Video

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Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
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Do 6-month-olds understand that speech can communicate?

Athena Vouloumanos1, Alia Martin, Kristine H Onishi

  • 1Department of Psychology, New York University, USA.

Developmental Science
|May 20, 2014
PubMed
Summary

Six-month-old infants understand speech

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Development
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Language Acquisition

Background:

  • Infants' understanding of speech's communicative function is crucial for language acquisition.
  • Previous research suggests 12-month-olds can differentiate speech's communicative role from its content.
  • It remains unclear if this understanding develops with language experience or is present earlier.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether 6-month-old infants recognize that speech conveys information about objects.
  • To determine if infants appreciate the communicative nature of speech before extensive language experience.

Main Methods:

  • Infants observed a 'Communicator' selectively grasp one of two objects.
  • During testing, the Communicator, unable to reach objects, vocalized (nonsense word) or non-vocally (cough) to a 'Recipient'.

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  • Infant looking time was measured to assess their understanding of the communicative act.

    • Main Results:

    • Infants looked longer when the Recipient chose the non-target object after the Communicator spoke, indicating an expectation of information transfer.
    • This effect was absent when the Communicator only coughed, highlighting the role of speech.
    • The expectation was modulated by prior observation of the Communicator's object choice, suggesting context-dependent understanding.

    Conclusions:

    • Six-month-old infants demonstrate an abstract understanding of speech's communicative function, even with limited vocabulary.
    • This early appreciation for speech as a communicative tool may facilitate subsequent language and knowledge acquisition.
    • Findings suggest a foundational cognitive mechanism for understanding communicative intent in early infancy.