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Perceptual learning of intermodal relations in infancy
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PERCEPTUAL LEARNING OF INTERMODAL RELATIONS IN INFANC~ Lorraine E. Bahrick This research explores the nature and basis of intermodal learning of audio-visual relations by 3month-old infants. Can infants who show no evidence of detecting intermodal relations be taught to detect them, and if so, under what conditions? A new intermodal learning method was developed to explore these questions. In this method, infants were trained with single film and soundtrack pairs of 2 kinds of events under one of 4 conditions. The film and soundtrack pairs were 1) appropriate and synchronous (A/S), 2) appropriate and nonsynchronous (A/N), 3)inappropriate and synchronous (I/S), or 4)inappropriate and nonsynchronous (I/N). Then all infants were tested in the same way for learning. The 2 kinds of events were shown side by side, moving in synchrony with one another, while the soundtrack to one of them was synchronized with the motions of both. An observer monitored fixation to the 2 films. To ensure that infants had no prior knowledge of the intermodal relations, a control group of 20 infants participated in the test after receiving irrelevant training. No evidence of intermodal perception was found. Eighty infants were randomly assigned to I of the 4 training conditions and then tested for intermodal learning. Results of the test were expressed as the proportion of looking time spent fixating the film that had been paired with the soundtrack during training. T-tests compared looking proportions of the 4 groups against the chance value of .50 to assess learning. They indicated that only the A/S group showed significant looking to the film that had been paired with the soundtrack during training. A main effect of both synchrony and appropriateness was found by an analy/s of variance (p (.005). These results indicate that 3-month-old infants learned to detect intermodal relations only when the objects and sounds were both appropriately and synchronously related.
PERCEPTUAL LEARNING OF INTERMODAL RELATIONS IN INFANC~ Lorraine E. Bahrick This research explores the nature and basis of intermodal learning of audio-visual relations by 3month-old infants. Can infants who show no evidence of detecting intermodal relations be taught to detect them, and if so, under what conditions? A new intermodal learning method was developed to explore these questions. In this method, infants were trained with single film and soundtrack pairs of 2 kinds of events under one of 4 conditions. The film and soundtrack pairs were 1) appropriate and synchronous (A/S), 2) appropriate and nonsynchronous (A/N), 3)inappropriate and synchronous (I/S), or 4)inappropriate and nonsynchronous (I/N). Then all infants were tested in the same way for learning. The 2 kinds of events were shown side by side, moving in synchrony with one another, while the soundtrack to one of them was synchronized with the motions of both. An observer monitored fixation to the 2 films. To ensure that infants had no prior knowledge of the intermodal relations, a control group of 20 infants participated in the test after receiving irrelevant training. No evidence of intermodal perception was found. Eighty infants were randomly assigned to I of the 4 training conditions and then tested for intermodal learning. Results of the test were expressed as the proportion of looking time spent fixating the film that had been paired with the soundtrack during training. T-tests compared looking proportions of the 4 groups against the chance value of .50 to assess learning. They indicated that only the A/S group showed significant looking to the film that had been paired with the soundtrack during training. A main effect of both synchrony and appropriateness was found by an analy/s of variance (p (.005). These results indicate that 3-month-old infants learned to detect intermodal relations only when the objects and sounds were both appropriately and synchronously related.