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Infant perception of gestural contrasts: prerequisites for the acquisition of a visually specified language*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

John J. Carroll  and
Eleanor J. Gibson
John J. Carroll*
Affiliation:
Cornell University
Eleanor J. Gibson
Affiliation:
Cornell University
*
John J. Carroll, Department of Psychology 282NI, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA.
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Abstract

Research is reported which investigated the ability of 4-month-old hearing infants to discriminate between gestures, derived from American Sign Language (ASL), that differ solely in terms of contrasts along underlying movement dimensions. Using an habituation–dishabituation task, it is shown that young infants can make such discriminations for global movement contrasts as well as contrasts along a single movement dimension. Thus, at four months, infants possess certain prerequisite perceptual abilities for the analysis of the signs of a visually specified language. Partial failure to dishabituate to another movement contrast, however, suggests that readiness to utilize the information in gestural events may vary depending on the movement in question. Results are contrasted to infant speech perception findings and implications for further research in the development of sign perception are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , February 1986 , pp. 31 - 49
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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Footnotes

*

This research was supported by grant number B-560 from the Spencer Foundation. Portions of this research were presented at the 1982 meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Austin, Texas.

References

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