Lecture 6: Language Development Flashcards
(178 cards)
what age of infants does the high amplitude sucking procedure test?
infants from birth to 4 months of age
what does the high amplitude sucking procedure rely on?
infants’ sucking reflex
high amplitude sucking procedure
Infants hear a sound stimulus every time they produce a strong/high-amplitude suck on a pacifier
how does the high amplitude sucking procedure determine infants’ interest?
The number of strong sucks is an indicator of the infants’ interest
what do more strong sucks on the high amplitude sucking procedure represent?
more interest
two variations of the high amplitue sucking procedure
discrimination & preference
function of the discrimination high amplitude sucking procedure
Used to test whether infants can tell the difference between two auditory stimuli
the discrimination high amplitude sucking procedure is a variation of _____
the visual habituation paradigm
habituation phase of the discrimination high amplitude sucking procedure
each time an infant produces a strong suck, a sound is played. This continues until sucking has declined significantly (by about 20%)
test phase of the discrimination high amplitude sucking procedure
they hear a new speech stimulus every time they produce a strong suck
interpreting results of the discrimination high amplitude sucking procedure
If infants can distinguish between stimuli, sucking behaviour should increase
function of the preference high amplitude sucking procedure
Used to test infants’ preference for different stimuli
preference high amplitude sucking procedure method
2 different stimuli are played on alternating minutes each time a strong suck is produced. The number of strong sucks produced during the presentation of each stimulus type is compared
interpreting preference in the preference high amplitude sucking procedure
infants prefer a stimulus if they suck more during one stimulus minute type than the other
what has the high amplitude sucking paradigm shown about newborns?
- Prefer to listen to speech sounds over artificial sounds
- Prefer to listen to their mother’s voice over another woman’s voice
- Prefer to listen to their native language over another language
what does research using the high amplitude sucking procedure reveal?
that language learning starts in utero
what does speech perception rely on?
perceiving differences between speech sounds
what often distinguishes similar speech sounds?
voice onset time
voice onset time
the length of time between when air passes through the lips and when the vocal cords start to vibrate
categorical perception
we perceive speech sounds as distinct categories even though the differences between speech sounds are gradual
why is categorical perception useful?
because it focuses listeners on sounds that are linguistically meaningful while ignoring meaningless differences
infants’ categorical perception of speech study question
do infants perceive the same speech categories as adults?
infants’ categorical perception of speech study sample
1-month-old infants learning English
infants’ categorical perception of speech study method
used a high amplitude sucking paradigm to test the discrimination between /ba/ and /pa/