REACTIONS OF INFANTS TO THEIR PARENTS VOICES

The amount of vocal reaction of four-month-old infants to the actual voices of their parents was compared with their reaction to the voices of same-sex strangers. Results showed that infants discriminated both of the parents' voices from that of a stranger, but whereas the mother's voice was associated with a nonsignificant increase in infant vocalization, the father's voice was associated with a significant suppression of vocalization. Over-all, girls showed greater discrimination between the voices than did boys. These results suggest important differences in the infant's response to voices during the prelanguage period. © 1979 Ablex Publishing Corporation.