INFANTS DISCRIMINATION OF VOCAL EXPRESSIONS - CONTRIBUTIONS OF AUDITORY AND VISUAL INFORMATION

Infants 5 months of age have been found to discriminate happy and sad vocal expressions. The present experiment showed that they can discriminate happy and angry vocal expressions as well, but that the presence of a facial expression plays a role in successful discrimination. Infants were visually habituated to a vocal expression accompanied by an affectively matching facial expression, an affectively mismatching facial expression, or a checkerboard pattern. At criterion, the vocal expression was or was not changed while the slide remained the same. Infants who received no change or who had been habituated to a vocal expression accompanied by a checkerboard display failed to dishabituate on the posttests. Infants who received a change in vocal expression from happy to angry or sad, or angry to happy or sad increased their looking time. These results indicate that 5-month-olds can discriminate vocal expressions of emotion when those expressions are presented in conjunction with a face. © 1991.