Conversation attentiveness and following in 12- and 18-week-old infants

Abstract

In recent years, the investigation of social transactional factors in early language and prelinguistic development have played an important role in reshaping cancepts of communication and its ontogenesis. The present study reports findings concerning young infants' dispositions to fallow the conversational interchanges of spontaneous adult dialogues. Two of 13 12-week-old infants (15%) and B of 12 lB-week-old infants (67%) showed organized shifts in visual attentiveness that were co-incident with shifts in speaking that occurred between adult speakers. Conversation monitoring of this sort went on in some instances for as long as 2 to 3 min. The data are discussed from the standpoints of cognition-attention, affect, and subjectivity. conversation monitoring communication prelinguistic patterns affect attentionConsiderable evidence has accrued over the past two decades which establishes the human infant early on as an authentic partner in social relationships (e.g.,

Rapprochement in the psychic development of the toddler: A transactional perspective.

“…Not enough emphasis has been placed on its auxiliary nature: from the very young infant’s standpoint others are externally located and perceived sources of help. The still-face studies of Tronick, Als and Adamson (1979) as well as our own maternal distraction studies (Horner & Carlson, 1985) demonstrate how much, even at very young ages (3–4 months), infants try to overcome barriers to interaction imposed by the mother. Field’s (1977) studies of same-aged infants’ responses to patterns of maternal intrusion bear similar testament to behavioral controls (gaze aversion) exerted by infants to withstand that intrusion.…”

“…If not, how does one tell the difference? There is evidence that intentional communications by infants toward parents arise during the last quarter of the first year (Dore, 1983; Golnikoff, 1983a,b; Greenfield, 1980) and that intentional (i.e., goal-directed) behavior of a social nature occurs as early as three months (Horner, 1985; Horner and Carlson, 1985). By toddlerhood there is a demonstrated capacity to manipulate communications to overcome passive or active resistance to a social intent (Golnikoff; Greenfield).…”

The origin of the symbiotic wish.

“…From neonancy, the prerepresentational infant possesses a well documented repertoire of social orienting and social organizing behaviors which, in momentary but increasingly sustained ways, facilitate the infant’s acquisition of predictable (i.e., reliable) ways of engaging others (Field & Fox, 1985; Horner, 1985a; Horner & Carlson, 1985; Horner & Chethik, 1986; see also Tronick, 1982). They constitute the foundation of the genuine social initiative and intentionality that seem to characterize the contact-seeking of infants 4 months and older (Horner, 1985a).…”