Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

The Development of Infant Participation in Communication

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Early Vocal Contact and Preterm Infant Brain Development

Abstract

Introduction: Full-term infants experience human voices in ecological contexts. Transnatal memory of the mother’s voice plays a crucial role in guiding infants’ first social encounters. On the basis of the earliest interactions with social partners, involving well-coordinated behavior, infants rapidly develop communicative and socio-cognitive skills.

Main aims of the chapter: In this chapter we describe three major transitions in socio-communicative development in the first year of life leading to foundational acquisitions of the end of the first year, such as joint attention, leading to language skills. We aim to highlight developmental continuity between these known transitions and the extent to which various forms of participation in infants, such as intent listening, less focused overhearing, or active production, underlie the seemingly emergent socio-cognitive skills of the end of the first year.

Conclusions: Based on the major breakthroughs of the last decades that have provided detailed understanding of the development of preverbal communication in infancy, it is worth investigating newborn preterm infants’ communicative abilities, even while in the NICU, and the ways in which parents may support the earliest forms of participation in social exchange. In this chapter we describe how small-scale ecological change in the NICU can facilitate participatory exchange between a preterm infant and a mother.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Asano, M., Imai, M., Kita, S., Kitajo, K., Okada, H., & Thierry, G. (2015). Sound symbolism scaffolds language development in preverbal infants. Cortex, 63, 196–205.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barrera, M. E., Rosenbaum, P. L., & Cunningham, C. E. (1987). Corrected and uncorrected Bayley scores: Longitudinal developmental patterns in low and high birth weight preterm infants. Infant Behavior and development, 10(3), 337–346.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloom, K. (1988). Quality of adult vocalizations affects the quality of infant vocalizations. Journal of Child Language, 15(03), 469–480.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bloom, K., Russell, A., & Wassenberg, K. (1987). Turn taking affects the quality of infant vocalizations. Journal of Child Language, 14, 211–227.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. (1985). The role of interaction formats in language acquisition. In Language and social situations (pp. 31–46). New York, NY: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Buil, A., Carchon, I., Apter, G., Laborne, F. X., Granier, M., & Devouche, E. (2016). Kangaroo supported diagonal flexion positioning: New insights into skin-to-skin contact for communication between mothers and very preterm infants. Archives de Pédiatrie, 23(9), 213–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buil, A., Fillon-Devys, D., Granger, A., Roger, K., Thomas, N., Apter, G., & Devouche, E. (submitted). Impact de l’installation en Flexion Diagonale Soutenue sur le maternage tactile spontané lors de la première séance de peau-à-peau en réanimation néonatale.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullinger A. (2004). Le développement sensori-moteur de l’enfant et ses avatars (Un parcours de recherche). Toulouse: Erès.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casaer, P. (1979). Postural behavior in newborn infant. In W. Heinenmann (Ed.), Clinics in developmental medicine. London, England: Spastics International Medical Publications, Medical Book.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Y., Matheson, L. E., & Sakata, J. T. (2016). Mechanisms underlying the social enhancement of vocal learning in songbirds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(24), 6641–6646.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohn, J. F., & Tronick, E. (1989). Specificity of infants’ response to mothers’ affective behavior. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 28(2), 242–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dolscheid, S., Hunnius, S., Casasanto, D., & Majid, A. (2014). Prelinguistic infants are sensitive to space-pitch associations found across cultures. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1256–1261.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dominguez, S., Devouche, E., Apter, G., & Gratier, M. (2016). The roots of turn-taking in the neonatal period. Infant and Child Development, 25(3), 240–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dominguez, S., Gratier, G., Martel, K., Apter, G., & Devouche, E. (submitted). Aux origines de la personne : Quand la mère parle à son nouveau-né. Neuropsychatrie de l’enfant et de l’adolescent.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farroni, T., Csibra, G., Simion, F., & Johnson, M. H. (2002). Eye contact detection in humans from birth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99(14), 9602–9605.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1981). Forms of talk. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein, M. H., King, A. P., & West, M. J. (2003). Social interaction shapes babbling: Testing parallels between birdsong and speech. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(13), 8030–8035.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gratier, M. (2003). Expressive timing and interactional synchrony between mothers and infants: Cultural similarities, cultural differences, and the immigration experience. Cognitive Development, 18, 533–554.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gratier, M., & Devouche, E. (2011). Imitation and repetition of prosodic contour in vocal interaction at 3 months. Developmental Psychology, 47(1), 67.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gratier, M., Devouche, E, Bobin-Bègue, A., Apter, G. & Lacheret, A. (2015). Judgments of emotion and communicative intent in infant vocalization at 1 and 5 months. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, New Orleans, 25–28 May 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gratier, M., Devouche, E., Dominguez, S., & Apter, G. (2015). What words can’t tell. In U. M. Ludtke (Ed.), Emotion in language: Theory–research–application. Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gratier, M., Devouche, E., Guellai, B., Infanti, R., Yilmaz, E., & Parlato-Oliveira, E. (2015). Early development of turn-taking in vocal interaction between mothers and infants. Frontiers in Psychology, 6(1167), 10–3389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guellai, B., & Streri, A. (2011). Cues for early social skills: Direct gaze modulates newborns’ recognition of talking faces. PLoS One, 6(4), e18610.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Guellaï, B., Streri, A., Chopin, A., Rider, D., & Kitamura, C. (2016). Newborns’ sensitivity to the visual aspects of infant-directed speech: Evidence from point-line displays of talking faces. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 42(9), 1275–1281.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Halliday, M. A. K. (1975). Learning how to mean. Explorations in the development of language. London, England: Edward Arnold.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isabella, R. A., & Belsky, J. (1991). Interactional synchrony and the origins of infant-mother attachment: A replication study. Child Development, 62(2), 373–384.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keller, H., Otto, H., Lamm, B., Yovsi, R. D., & Kärtner, J. (2008). The timing of verbal/vocal communications between mothers and their infants: A longitudinal cross-cultural comparison. Infant Behavior & Development, 31(2), 217–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kitamura, C., Guellaï, B., & Kim, J. (2014). Motherese by eye and ear: Infants perceive visual prosody in point-line displays of talking heads. PLoS One, 9(10), e111467.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kugiumutzakis, G. (1998). Neonatal imitation in the intersubjective companion space. In S. Braten (Ed.), Intersubjective communication and emotion in early ontogeny (pp. 63–88). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kugiumutzakis, G. (1999). Genesis and development of early infant mimesis to facial and vocal models. In J. Nadel & G. Butterworth (Eds.), Imitation in infancy (pp. 36–59). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lavelli, M., & Fogel, A. (2013). Inter dyad differences in early mother–infant face-to-face communication: Real-time dynamics and developmental pathways. Developmental Psychology, 49, 2257–2271.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Legerstee, M. (1991). The role of person and object in eliciting early imitation. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 51(3), 423–433.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Legerstee, M. (2005). Infants’ sense of people: Precursors to a theory of mind. Cambridge, UK/New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Legerstee, M., Pomerleau, A., Malcuit, G., & Feider, H. (1987). The development of infants’ responses to people and a doll: Implications for research in communication. Infant Behavior & Development, 10(1), 81–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewkowicz, D. J. (1986). Developmental changes in infants’ bisensory response to synchronous durations. Infant Behavior & Development, 9(3), 335–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewkowicz, D. J., & Lickliter, R. (1995). A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 7(4), 512–514.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markova, G., & Legerstee, M. (2006). Contingency, imitation, and affect sharing: Foundations of infants’ social awareness. Developmental Psychology, 42(1), 132.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marlier, L., Schaal, B., & Soussignan, R. (1998). Neonatal responsiveness to the odor of amniotic and lacteal fluids: A test of perinatal chemosensory continuity. Child Development, 69(3), 611–623.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Masataka, N. (2003). The onset of language (Vol. 9). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meltzoff, A. N., & Borton, R. W. (1979). Intermodal matching by human neonates. Nature, 28, 403–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meltzoff, A. N., & Moore, M. K. (1977). Imitation of facial and manual gestures by human neonates. Science, 198(4312), 75–78.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Minde, K., Whitelaw, A., Brown, J., & Fitzhardinge, P. (1995). Developmental outcome as a function of the goodness of fit between the infant’s cry characteristics and the mother’s perception of her infant’s cry. Pediatrics, 95, 516–521.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, L., & Trevarthen, C. (1985). Emotional regulation of interactions between two-month olds and their mothers. In T. A. Field & N. A. Fox (Eds.), Social perception in infants (pp. 177–197). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nadel, J., & Tremblay-Leveau, H. (1999). Early perception of social contingencies and interpersonal intentionality: Dyadic and triadic paradigms. In P. Rochat (Ed.), Early social cognition: Understanding others in the first months of life (pp. 189–212). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagy, E. (2008). Innate intersubjectivity: Newborns’ sensitivity to communication disturbance. Developmental Psychology, 44(6), 1779.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nagy, E., & Molnar, P. (2004). Homo Imitans or homo provocans? Human imprinting model of neonatal imitation. Infant Behavior & Development, 27(1), 54–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reddy, V. (2008). How infants know minds. Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reddy, V., Hay, D., Murray, L., & Trevarthen, C. (1997). Communication in infancy: Mutual regulation of affect and attention. In G. J. Bremner, A. Slater, & G. Butterworth (Eds.), Infant development: Recent advances (pp. 247–273). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reddy, V., Markova, G., & Wallot, S. (2013). Anticipatory adjustments to being picked up in infancy. PLoS One, 8(6), e65289.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Rochat, P., Querido, J. G., & Striano, T. (1999). Emerging sensitivity to the timing and structure of protoconversation in early infancy. Developmental Psychology, 35, 950–957.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rönnqvist, L., & von Hofsten, C. (1994). Neonatal finger and arm movements as determined by a social and an object context. Early Development and Parenting, 3(2), 81–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy, D. (2009). New horizons in the study of child language acquisition. Proceedings of Interspeech 2009, Brighton, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sai, F. Z. (2005). The role of the mother’s voice in developing mother’s face preference: Evidence for intermodal perception at birth. Infant and Child Development, 14(1), 29–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stork, H. E. (1986). Enfances indiennes. Paris, France: Bayard Éditions-Païdos-Le Centurion.

    Google Scholar 

  • Streri, A. (1987). Tactile discrimination of shape and intermodal transfer in 2-to 3-month-old infants. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5(3), 213–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Streri, A. (1991). Voir, atteindre, toucher. Les relations entre la vision et le toucher chez le bébé. Paris, France: Presses Universitaires de France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Super, C. M., & Harkness, S. (1986). The developmental niche: A conceptualization at the interface of child and culture. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 9(4), 545–569.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi, D. Y., Narayanan, D. Z., & Ghazanfar, A. A. (2013). Coupled oscillator dynamics of vocal turn-taking in monkeys. Current Biology, 23(21), 2162–2168.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi, D. Y., Fenley, A. R., & Ghazanfar, A. A. (2016). Early development of turn-taking with parents shapes vocal acoustics in infant marmoset monkeys. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 371(1693), 20150370.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trevarthen, C. (1977). Descriptive analysis of infant communicative behavior. In H. Schaffer (Ed.), Studies in mother-infant interaction (pp. 227–270). New York, NY: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trevarthen, C. (1989). Signs before speech. In T. A. Sebeok & J. Umiker-Sebeok (Eds.), The semiotic web (pp. 689–755). Berlin, Germany/New York, NY/Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trevarthen, C. (1993). The self born in intersubjectivity: An infant communicating. In U. Neisser (Ed.), The perceived self: Ecological and interpersonal sources of self-knowledge (pp. 121–173). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trevarthen, C., & Hubley, P. (1978). Secondary intersubjectivity: Confidence, confiding and acts of meaning in the first year. In A. Lock (Ed.), Action, gesture, and symbol: The emergence of language (pp. 183–227). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van der Meer, A. L. H., Van der Weel, F. R., & Lee, D. N. (1995). The functional significance of arm movements in neonates. Science, 267(5198), 693.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, P., Bremner, J. G., Mason, U., Spring, J., Mattock, K., Slater, A., & Johnson, S. P. (2009). Preverbal infants’ sensitivity to Synaesthetic cross-modality correspondences. Psychological Science, 21(1), 21–25.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Woodward, A. L. (1998). Infants selectively encode the goal object of an actor’s reach. Cognition, 69(1), 1–34.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization. (2003). Kangaroo mother care: A practical guide. Department of Reproductive Health and Research, Geneva, Switzerland.. ISBN 92 4 1590351.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Ethologie, Cognition, Développement, Université Paris Nanterre, Nanterre, France

    Maya Gratier

  2. Laboratoire de Psychopathologie et Processus de Santé (LPPS), Institut de Psychologie – Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France

    Emmanuel Devouche

Authors
  1. Maya Gratier
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Emmanuel Devouche
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maya Gratier .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Researcher, Aosta, Italy

    Manuela Filippa

  2. Médecine et Réanimation du Nouveau-né Hôpital de Hautepierre, CHU, Strasbourg, France

    Pierre Kuhn

  3. Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    Björn Westrup

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Gratier, M., Devouche, E. (2017). The Development of Infant Participation in Communication. In: Filippa, M., Kuhn, P., Westrup, B. (eds) Early Vocal Contact and Preterm Infant Brain Development . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65077-7_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics