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A lack of evidence in 4‐month‐old human infants for paternal voice preference
Author(s) -
Ward Cynthia D.,
Cooper Robin Panneton
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-2302(199907)35:1<49::aid-dev7>3.0.co;2-3
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , preference , infant development , microeconomics , economics
Several studies have found that human infants recognize the sight, sound, smell, and touch of their mothers. Maternal recognition occurs early in development, often being influenced by prenatal experiences. In contrast, the development of infants' recognition of their fathers is not understood. We investigated whether 4‐month‐old human infants preferrred their fathers' voices, in two different speaking contexts. In both Experiments 1 and 2, infants were tested with fathers' adult‐directed (AD) or infant‐directed (ID) speech. In all experiments, infants were allowed to listen to recordings of either father's or other's voice contingent on their visual attention. Results from the first two experiments showed that infants did not prefer their fathers' voices over unfamiliar male voices. However, in Experiment 3, 4‐month‐olds showed that they could discriminate the male voices heard in the previous studies. These data were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that the experiences necessary for the development of maternal preferences are different from those supporting paternal preferences, and that perhaps multimodal cues are necessary for father recognition in infancy. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 35: 49–59, 1999