Auditory-oral matching behavior in newborns

Twenty-five newborn infants were tested for auditory-oral matching behavior when presented with the consonant sound \m\ and the vowel sound \a\ - a precursor behavior to vocal imitation. Auditory-oral matching behavior by the infant was operationally defined as showing the mouth movement appropriate for producing the model sound just heard (mouth opening for \a\ and mouth clutching for \m\), even when the infant produced no sound herself With this new dependent measure, the current study is the first to show matching behavior to consonant sounds in newborns: infants showed significantly more instances of mouth opening after \a\ models than after \m\ models, and more instances of mouth clutching after \m\ models than after \a\ models. The results are discussed in the context of theories of active intermodal mapping and innate releasing mechanisms.