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Behavioral methods in infancy: pitfalls of single measures
Author(s) -
Trehub Sandra E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2012.06448.x
Subject(s) - generality , psychology , cognitive psychology , preference , principal (computer security) , offset (computer science) , computer science , statistics , mathematics , psychotherapist , programming language , operating system
This paper outlines the principal behavioral methods used to study music processing in infancy. The advantages of conditioning procedures are offset by high attrition rates and restrictions on the stimuli that can be used. The head‐turn preference procedure is more user‐friendly but poses greater interpretive challenges. In view of the multidimensional nature of infant attention, no single response measure, whether behavioral, physiological, or neural, can provide unambiguous information about music processing in infancy. Greater use of ecologically valid stimuli is likely to generate increased cooperation from infants and greater generality of the findings.