COMPARISON OF INFANT PREFERENCES AND RESPONSES TO AUDITORY-STIMULI - MUSIC, MOTHER, AND OTHER FEMALE VOICE

Twenty-four infants ages 2.0 to 8.0 months completed an operant listening task measuring preference for mother's voice versus other female voice versus music, using a mercury switch attached to their foot. Dependent measures were seconds of listening time, number of preference changes per interval, and behavior analysis of videotaped infant responses using computerized data recorded in 1-second intervals. Results indicated that the babies did discriminate. Babies began manipulating the mercury switch in the first experimental condition (F = 2.96). df = 5, p <.05). Overall, the mother's voice was most preferred (M = 193.8 seconds) followed by the other female voice (M = 174.1 seconds), and music (M = 172.1), although these differences were not statistically significant. A significant interaction was found between age and preference, with younger babies preferring the mother's voice and older babies equally preferring the mother and other female voices (F = 3.9, df = 2, p <.05). Videotaped observation analyses showed that babies listened more intently to music than to the other stimuli. © 1990 Oxford University Press.