Lakshmi J. Gogate

The intersensory origins of word‐comprehension: an ecological–dynamic systems view

How do infants begin to understand spoken words? Recent research suggests that word comprehension develops from the early detection of intersensory relations between conventionally paired auditory speech patterns (words) and visible objects or actions. More importantly, in keeping with dynamic systems principles, the findings suggest that word comprehension develops from a dynamic and complementary relationship between the organism (the infant) and the environment (language addressed to the infant). In addition, parallel findings from speech and non-speech studies of intersensory perception provide evidence for domain general processes in the development of word comprehension. These research findings contrast with the view that a lexical acquisition device with specific lexical principles and innate constraints is required for early word comprehension. Furthermore, they suggest that learning of word–object relations is not merely an associative process. The data support an alternative view of the developmental process that emphasizes the dynamic and reciprocal interactions between general intersensory perception, selective attention and learning in infants, and the specific characteristics of maternal communication.

Attention and Memory for Faces and Actions in Infancy: The Salience of Actions over Faces in Dynamic Events

Discrimination and memory for video films of women performing different activities was investigated in 5.5 month-old infants. In Experiment 1, infants (N = 24) were familiarized to the faces of one of three women performing one of three repetitive activities (blowing bubbles, brushing hair, and brushing teeth). Overall, results indicated discrimination and memory for the actions but not the faces after both a 1-min and a 7-week delay. Memory was demonstrated by a visual preference for the novel actions after the 1-min delay and for the familiar actions after the 7-week delay, replicating prior findings that preferences shift as a function of retention time. Experiment 2 (N = 12) demonstrated discrimination and memory for the faces when infants were presented in static poses at the 1-min delay, but not the 7-week delay. In Experiment 3 (N = 18), discrimination of the actions was replicated, but no discrimination among the objects embedded in the actions (hairbrush, bubble wand, toothbrush) was found. These findings demonstrate the attentional salience of actions over faces in dynamic events to 5.5 month-olds. They highlight the disparity between results generated from moving versus static displays in infancy research and emphasize the importance of using dynamic events as a basis for generalizing about perception and memory for events in the real world.