Marguerite B. Stevenson

The beginning of conversation: Early patterns of mother-infant vocal responsiveness☆

Abstract Microanalytic techniques were used to characterize the structure of the prespeech communication of 4-month-old infants and their mothers. Two observers continuously recorded the interactive behavior of mothers and their infants during hour-long observations in the homes of 25 families. Loglinear models were used to examine the extent to which the vocal behavior of one person was conditional upon the vocal behavior of the partner. Within the limits of this microanalytic approach, analyses indicated that patterns of mother-infant vocal exchange were structurally similar to patterns of adult conversation. Initial vocal responses were followed by suppression of vocalization, allowing the partner to join the conversation. The comparative effectiveness of vocal behavior as an elicitor of vocalization and as a response to vocalization was shown for mothers and infants relative to the other behaviors observed. Vocalization served as a modulator of visual attentiveness: When the partner was not visually attentive, vocalization elicited visual attention.

Mothers' speech to their 1-year-old infants in home and laboratory settings

The speech of mothers and their 1-year-old infants was compared in the home and in the laboratory playroom. The home and laboratory settings were similar for measuring the number of actual words that infants spoke and were similar for measuring the complexity of the mothers speech, including the number of different words, the type-token ratio, and the length of the utterances. Infants vocalized at similar rates in the two settings, but mothers spoke at a faster rate in the laboratory playroom. The usefulness of a preliminary warm-up period was supported by the finding that for the second half of the sessions, mothers slowed their rate of speech and increased the complexity of their speech.

Father-Infant Relationships: Their Nature and Importance

Psychologists have speculated about the nature and development of early mother-infant relationships from the time that Freud first laid stress on early experiences and later singled out the mother-infant relationship as perhaps the most important developmental influence (cf. Freud, 1949). Freuds hypotheses were based on the recollections of his patients, rather than on systematically gathered data, so their validity was suspect. His theory was heuristically significant, however, inasmuch as it focused attention upon infant social relationships. Unfortunately, much of the early research relied upon maternal interviews to gather information about child-rearing practices. This technique may also yield unreliable data, and this may explain the inconclusiveness of these studies (Caldwell, 1964). Only recently have psychologists begun observing mothers and babies directly. A similar trend toward the gathering of objective observational data has taken place in research on father-child rela-