1) One-year-old infants can follow the direction of an unseen adult's voice to locate an object, demonstrating their ability to discern voice directionality without visual cues.
2) In a follow-up study, 16-month-olds continued to successfully locate objects based on voice direction even when the speaker was positioned opposite to the target, indicating they were following voice direction rather than just approaching the sound source.
3) While 12-month-olds also performed above chance overall, their ability was less robust, showing emerging but not fully developed skills in following voice direction. In contrast, chimpanzees did not demonstrate an ability to use voice direction to locate objects.
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One year -old infants follow others' voice direction
1. One- Year- Old infants Follow
Others¡¯ Voice Direction
Rossano, F., Carpenter, M., & Tomsaello, M. (2012).
Journal of Psychological Science, 23(11), 1298-1302.
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3. ¨C foundational for children¡¯s earliest intersubjective
social interactions
? intentional communication
? linguistic communication 3
4. ? Follow the direction of others¡¯ gaze to external
targets:
¨C human infants
¨C many nonhuman primates.
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5. ? No research investigating infants¡¯ (or adults¡¯)
ability to follow the direction of someone¡¯s
voice to an external entity.
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6. ? This study investigating:
¨C ability of 1-year-old infants to follow the direction
of an adult¡¯s voice to an external target
¨C when they could not see the adult
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7. Study 1
? Investigated whether infants could determine
where an unseen adult was looking just by
hearing her voice.
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8. Method
? Participants:
Age N Mean Range
16 months 32 16:0 months 15:15 ~ 16:15
¨C 12 excluded
? fussy ( n= 7)
? distracted by parents ( n= 1)
? did not move (n= 4)
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9. Materials and design
? Materials:
¨C a large wooden barrier (160 cm ¡Á 0.9 cm ¡Á 122 cm)
¨C four pairs of matching cardboard boxes (each 34 cm ¡Á 24
cm ¡Á 17 cm)
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11. Procedure
an experimenter positioned
herself behind a tall barrier
opened two boxes on the floor at either
side of it(one of the boxes contained a toy)
behind the barrier
verbally expressed excitement while looking
(with her head turned) toward one of the two boxes
whether infants subsequently
went to that box to get the toy 11
12. Results and discussion
? 1st trial:
¨C 81%, above chance (sign test, p < .001, g = .32)
? Four trial:
¨C still significantly better than chance
¨C mean number of correct trials = 2.56, SD = 0.62;
Wilcoxon signed-rank exact test: T+ = 136, N =
161, p < .001; r = .68
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13. Results and discussion
? 16-month-olds:
¨C follow another person¡¯s voice direction
¨C can use it to infer what that person is attending to
(even if he or she cannot be seen)
? Another explanation:
¨C mouth was not at the center of the barrier
¨C ¡°come here¡±
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14. Study 2
? Study 2 pitted the source-of-sound explanation
against the voice-direction explanation.
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15. Method
? Participants:
Age N Mean Range
12 months 32 12:6 months 12:0 ~ 12:29
16 months 32 16:0 months 15:15 ~ 16:15
¨C excluded
? fussy (12-month-olds: n = 3, 16-month-olds: n = 2)
? distracted by their parent during the test (12-month-olds: n = 1; 16-
month-olds: n = 2)
? did not move (12-month-olds: n = 4; 16-month-olds: n = 7)
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16. Procedure
? Same as study 1 except:
¨C the experimenter positioned herself on the side
opposite the correct box
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17. Results and discussion
? 16 m:
¨C 1st trial:
? 78%, above chance, (sign test, p < .01, g = .28)
¨C Four trial:
? better than chance
? mean number of correct trials = 2.53, SD = 0.70;
Wilcoxon signed-rank exact test: T + = 120, N = 15, p <
.001; r = .60
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18. Results and discussion
? 12 m:
¨C 1st trial:
? 61%, at chance, (sign test, p = .24, g = .11)
¨C Four trial:
? better than chance
? mean number of correct trials = 2.44, SD = 0.77;
Wilcoxon signed-rank exact test: T + = 123, N = 16, p <
.01; r = .50
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23. General discussion
? When the experimenter was out of sight
behind the barrier and talked excitedly about
the toy.
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24. General discussion
? They were able to determine which box the toy
was in, even on their very first trial.
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25. General discussion
? Study 2 :
¨C not just approaching the source of the sound and
chancing upon the toy
¨C rather, they were following the experimenter¡¯s
voice direction to the toy
? 12-month-olds:
¨C less robust but it too was above chance level
overall
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26. General discussion
? 1-year-old infants:
¨C can discern the directionality of a voice without
seeing the speaker
¨C appear to be able to use voice direction to infer the
speaker¡¯s focus of (visual) attention
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