Visual Reinforcement of Head-Turn Responses in Infants Under 12 Months of Age

The effect of complex visual reinforcement (animated toy animal) on auditory localization responses of infants below 12 months of age was studied. Sixty infants served as subjects and each subject received 30 presentations of complex noise at suprathreshold level. After each response to an auditory signal, one-half of the infants (experimental group) received complex visual reinforcement and the other half (control group) received no reinforcement. The experimental and control groups were further subdivided into three age groups: four months, five and six months, and seven to 11 months. Visual reinforcement produced significantly more responses (head turn) than no reinforcement for the two older age groups. There was no significant difference between the experimental and control conditions at four months of age.