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Sixty-three mothers and their 3-day-old infants were observed during breast feeding. The analysis of dyadic vocal interaction suggests that during the neonatal period, the infant's vocalization is already responsive to both presence and absence of maternal vocalization. Maternal vocalization is likewise shown to be responsive to antecedent vocal behavior of the newborn. No sex differences were found in the patterns of sequential vocal exchanges at this period.In recent years there has been a growing interest in the characteristics of mother-infant interaction as "interlocution" (Schaffer, 1977). This line of research concerns itself more with the temporal arrangements of maternal and infant behavior as reflecting synchronization and reciprocity, rather than with the frequency of specific elements of these behaviors (Rosenthal, 1973). In, general, these studies focus on the acquisition of a communication system between mother and infant. Various investigators have claimed that these early interactions between infant and mother with their characteristics of reciprocity, mutuality, and synchronization can be seen as precursors of later verbal communication (Bruner, 1977; Lewis & Rosenblum, 1977;Ryan, 1974; Rosenthal, Note 1).Special interest is given in this approach to the vocal interaction between mother and infant. Freedle and Lewis (1977) argued that although all interactions contribute to the acquisition of early communication skills, vocal interaction is unique from other interactions in that by the age of 3 months, there is already a predominance of simultaneous vocalizations of mothers and infants. A similar argument is made by Greenbaum and Landau (1977). Rosenthal (in press) has shown that during the neonatal period, vocal