Development of Communication in Infants: Implications for Stimulus Relations Research

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Infant communication begins with learned stimulus-response relations.
• Early skills include eye gazing, joint attention, social referencing, and naming.

Purpose of the Study:

• To discuss evidence linking early communication skills to complex stimulus-stimulus relations.
• To emphasize the importance of early operant learning in infancy.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing research on infant communication and stimulus relations.
• Analysis of how early learned behaviors facilitate advanced cognitive phenomena.

Main Results:

• Early communication skills are prerequisites for more complex stimulus-stimulus relations.
• These foundational skills support the emergence of equivalence class formations and derived relational responding.

Conclusions:

• Establishing early communication operants in infancy is critical.
• These findings have significant implications for developmental research on stimulus relations.