Recognition of sound pattern of words extracted from spoken sentences by preverbal infants

Abstract

The present experiment investigated the ability of recognition and long-term retention of sound pattern of words extracted from spoken sentences in preverbal infants. When preferences of 8-month-old Japanese infants for target words and for novel words were tested by head-turn preference procedure, immediately after being auditory exposed to spoken sentences that included the target words, they showed preference for target words significantly over novel words. They were able to recognize words that were presented within sentences previously. Moreover, such preference was confirmed when the infants were tested with a 2-week interval. On the other hand, their preference for prosodic properties of the exposed spoken sentences was not confirmed. Infants retain information of those words that were extracted from the speech analytically rather than holistically.