Influences of Infant-Directed Speech on Early Word Recognition

When addressing infants, many adults adopt a particular type of speech, known as infant-directed speech (IDS). IDS is characterized by exaggerated intonation, as well as reduced speech rate, shorter utterance duration, and grammatical simplification. It is commonly asserted that IDS serves in part to facilitate language learning. Although intuitively appealing, direct empirical tests of this claim are surprisingly scarce. Additionally, studies that have examined associations between IDS and language learning have measured learning within a single laboratory session rather than the type of long-term storage of information necessary for word learning. In this study, 7- and 8-month-old infants' long-term memory for words was assessed when words were spoken in IDS and adult-directed speech (ADS). Word recognition over the long term was successful for words introduced in IDS, but not for those introduced in ADS, regardless of the register in which recognition stimuli were produced. Findings are discussed in the context of the influence of particular input styles on emergent word knowledge in prelexical infants.