Vocal-Motor and Speech-Gesture Coordinations in Infancy

本研究通过对婴儿发声和运动系统发育的动态特性的研究，探讨了手势和言语之间的联系的起源。这项研究从婴儿发声和运动系统的模型中得出了具体的假设，认为它们是可以相互缠绕的耦合振荡器。为了研究组成系统中行为的相对强度和稳定性如何影响缠绕和导致发声-运动协调的强度和特异度的发育变化，发声、有节奏的肢体运动、言语、手势和发声-运动和言语-手势协调将在2到19个月的婴儿中每两周进行一次观察。30名正常发育的足月婴儿将在家中被录制45分钟，在自然和半结构化的游戏环境中进行。所有婴儿发声、肢体有节奏的动作、文字和手势都将被编码。数据分析将集中在这些现象的规范性和里程碑相关的发展变化，作为年龄函数的发声和运动行为之间共同出现的模式，以及早期交际里程碑成就与发声-运动协调的性质和时间组织之间的关系。这项研究还将评估婴儿在发声-手动协调模式方面的个体差异，以及它们与以后交流的潜在关系。手势使用的变化被证明与交流延迟有关，这一事实表明，早期发声-手动协调的个体差异可能对后来的交流障碍具有诊断意义。识别早期发声-手动协调的典型模式和正常变异范围将为未来的诊断研究提供所需的规范性信息。

This research explores the origins of the link between gesture and speech by focusing on the dynamic properties of the development of infant vocal and motor systems. The study addresses specific hypotheses derived from a model of infant vocal and motor system as coupled oscillators that can mutually entrain one another. To examine the ways in which the relative strength and stability of behaviors in the component systems influence entrainment and lead to developmental changes in the strength and specificity of vocal-motor coordination, vocalizations, rhythmic limb movements, speech, gestures, and vocal- motor and speech-gesture coordinations will be observed in infants biweekly between the ages of 2 and 19 months. Thirty full-term, normally-developing infants will be videotaped at home for 45 minutes in naturalistic and semistructured play contexts. All infant vocalizations, rhythmic limb movements, words, and gestures will be coded. Data analyses will focus on normative and milestone-related developmental change in these phenomena, patterns of co-occurrence between vocal and motor behaviors as a function of age, and the relationship between early communicative milestone achievement and the nature and temporal organization of vocal-motor coordination. This research will also assess individual differences among infants in vocal- manual coordination patterns and their potential relationship to later communication. The fact that variation in gesture use has been shown to relate to communicative delay suggests the possibility that individual variability in early vocal-manual coordination may have diagnostic significance for later communication disorders. Identification of the typical pattern and normal range of variation in early vocal-manual coordination will provide normative information required for future diagnostic research.