Keren-Portnoy, Tamar orcid.org/0000-0002-7258-2404, Daffern, Helena orcid.org/0000-0001-5838-0120, DePaolis, Rory A et al. (4 more authors) (2021) ‘Did I just do that?’:Six-month-olds learn the contingency between their vocalisations and a visual reward in 5 minutes. Infancy. pp. 1057-1075. ISSN 1532-7078
Abstract
It has been shown that infants can increase or modify a motorically available behaviour such as sucking, kicking, arm waving, etc., in response to a positive visual reinforcement (e.g., DeCasper & Fifer, 1980; Millar, 1990; Rochat & Striano, 1999; Rovee-Collier, 1997; Watson & Ramey, 1972). We tested infants to determine if they would also change their vocal behaviour in response to contingent feedback which lacks the social, emotional and auditory modelling typical of parent-child interaction. Here we show that in a single five-minute session infants increased the rate of their vocalisations in order to control the appearance of colourful shapes on an iPad screen. This is the first experimental study to demonstrate that infants can rapidly learn to increase their vocalisations when given positive reinforcement with no social element. This work sets the foundations for future studies into the causal relationship between the number of early vocalisations and the onset of words. In addition, there are potential clinical applications for reinforcing vocal practice in infant populations who are at risk for poor language skills.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Authors. Infancy published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Congress of Infant Studies. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (York) > Language and Linguistic Science (York) The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Electronic Engineering (York) The University of York > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (York) > Music (York) The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Health Sciences (York) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number THE BRITISH ACADEMY SRG19\190697 |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 04 Aug 2021 09:40 |
Last Modified: | 30 Oct 2024 01:04 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12433 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/infa.12433 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:176790 |