Consonant Cue Perception by Twenty- To Twenty-Four-Week-Old Infants

MOFFITT, ALAN R. Consonant Cue Perception by Twentyto Twenty-fourWeek-Old Infants. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1971, 42, 717-731. Synthetic speech syllables sounding like bah and gah were presented to 3 groups of infants 20-24 weeks of age. One group heard trial blocks of bah syllables during familiarization and a block of gah syllables on a test trial, while another group heard trial blocks of gah during familiarization and bah on a test trial. The control group heard trial blocks of bah syllables during familiarization and test trials. Discrimination was indexed by decrement of cardiac deceleration during familiarization and recovery of the cardiac response on the test trial. The infants were able to discriminate among these syllables, indicating that linguistic-perceptual capacities are present during early life.