AUDITORY-VISUAL PRIMACY IN THE INFANT'S DISCRIMINATION OF THE MOTHER AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INFANT TEMPERAMENT AND SUBJECT LOSS IN A HABITUATION PROCEDURE
Abstract
One-hundred and seventeen infants were rated by their mothers on a temperament questionnaire before the infants participated in a habituation procedure. Infants were then habituated to the simultaneous presentation of a photographed face and recorded voice. For one-half of the sample, the face and voice were those of the mother. After habituation, test trials were given in which the face changed, the voice changed, both changed, or neither changed. Seventy-two infants successfully completed the habituation procedure. The results were that 11-week-old infants dishabituated only to a voice change or to a voice and face change suggesting that they identified the stimulus on the basis of auditory information. Eighteen week olds dishabituated only to a voice and face change occurring together. Twenty-eight week olds dishabituated to a face change or to a face and voice change suggesting that they identified the stimulus on the basis of visual information. The results suggest that infants initially discriminate social objects by auditory information, but later shift to discrimination on the basis of visual information. Infants who saw their mother responded the same as infants who saw a stranger, but they habituated more quickly. Male and female infants responded the same except that female infants habituated more slowly. The temperament questionnaires for all infants were scored into 4 factors. Analyses showed that there was a relationship between temperament scores and subject loss in the habituation procedure for female infants. Unsuccessful female infants had been rated by their mothers as more difficult or more unadaptable than successful infants. These results suggest that subject loss in a habituation procedure may be due to non-random factors and not just temporary fluctuations in behavioral state as often assumed.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Developmental psychology
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