Temporal Auditory Processing in Infancy

One of the most intriguing aspects of our perceptual system is its ability to derive relatively accurate and useful percepts of the world from sensory information, particularly when such information underspecifies the distal stimulus.' In such situations, organizing processes necessarily play a prominent role. Perceptual organization in the temporal domain is particularly critical because most, if not all, meaningful auditory signals undergo change over time. Nevertheless, research on auditory development in general and on temporal auditory processing in particular tends to focus on the perception of relatively simple stimuli, mostly single, unchanging sounds.