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Preference for consonance over dissonance by hearing newborns of deaf parents and of hearing parents
Author(s) -
Masataka Nobuo
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
developmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.801
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1467-7687
pISSN - 1363-755X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2005.00462.x
Subject(s) - consonance and dissonance , psychology , cognitive dissonance , audiology , preference , stimulus (psychology) , developmental psychology , social psychology , cognitive psychology , medicine , physics , acoustics , economics , microeconomics
Behavioral preferences for consonance over dissonance were tested in hearing infants of deaf parents and in hearing infants of hearing parents when they were 2 days old. Using a modified visual‐fixation‐based, auditory‐preference procedure, I found that both 2‐day‐old infants of deaf parents and those of hearing parents looked longer at a visual stimulus when looking produced the original version of a Mozart minuet as opposed to a version altered to contain many dissonant intervals. The relative magnitude of such preference did not significantly differ whether their parents were deaf or hearing. Infants prefer consonance over dissonance, and the preference is present from birth and is not dependent on any specific prenatal or early postnatal experience.