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INFANTS' RECOGNITION OF THE SOUND PATTERNS OF THEIR OWN NAMES
Denise R Mandel1, Peter W Jusczyk1, David B Pisoni2
1State University of New York at Buffalo.
Psychological Science
|August 26, 2014
Summary
Four-and-a-half-month-old infants recognize their own names. This early name recognition occurs regardless of the name's stress pattern, showing infants can distinguish familiar sounds.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Infant Language Acquisition
- Auditory Perception
Background:
- Infant-directed speech frequently includes a child's name.
- The developmental timeline for name recognition in infants is not well-established.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate at what age infants begin to recognize their own names.
- To determine if infants differentiate their names from similar-sounding words.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a modified head-turn preference procedure.
- Tested 4.5-month-old infants' listening preferences for their own names versus control words (foils).
- Foils were matched or mismatched for stress patterns.
Main Results:
- Infants showed a significant preference for their own names.
- This preference was evident even when compared to foils with identical stress patterns.
- Infants also preferred their names over foils with different stress patterns.
Conclusions:
- 4.5-month-old infants can recognize the sound patterns of their own names.
- Early name recognition suggests infants are sensitive to frequently heard auditory patterns.
- This finding provides insight into the initial stages of language sound recognition in infancy.
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