Differential vocal response (DVR) to an interactive mother versus an interactive stranger was used to classify 12 3-month-old male infants into either a high or low DVR group. The high DVR group responded significantly above base rate to stimulation by the mother and significantly below base rate to stimulation by the stranger, whereas the low DVR group responded at base rate to both mother and stranger. The high DVR group subsequently performed significantly better on both the Stanford-Binet scale at age 3 years and the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities at 5 years.
Studies in the USA rarely find differences in the social-vocal behaviors of male versus female infants, and when such differences are found, they favor females. The present study examined whether this pattern would hold true in Greece, where the parental preference for boys over girls could differentially affect rearing behavior. The subjects were normal 3-month-old infants, 39 reared by their parents and 25 reared in an institution. Infants' vocal interaction pattern was assessed by Roe's Differential Vocal Responsiveness (DVR) to mother/caretaker versus a stranger during 3-min social-vocal interactions. This technique has previously been found to relate to later cognitive development. The results showed that home-reared males had higher DVR scores than home-reared females, whereas no such sex difference was obtained for the institution infants. Also, the affective voice quality rating of mothers talking to their sons was higher than that of mothers talking to their daughters, whereas no such difference existed in the way caretakers talked to the institution infants. The results suggest that early differences in vocal-interactional patterns, and possibly cognitive processing, may be attributable to differences in parental behavior.
This article presents data from four independent studies on the relationship between quantity of maternal vocal stimulation during naturalistic conditions and 3‐month‐old infants' cognitive processing, as assessed by the infants' differential vocal responsiveness (DVR) to their mother versus a female stranger. In two of the studies, the subjects were full‐term American infants whose parents came from a wide socio‐educational and ethnic background. In the third study, the subjects were low‐risk preterm infants of White American parents. In the fourth study the subjects were full‐term infants in Greece. The results from all four studies showed a curvilinear relationship between DVR and maternal vocal stimulation during naturalistic conditions. High DVR was associated with a mid‐level amount of maternal vocal stimulation, whereas low DVR was associated with both least and most maternal vocal stimulation. These studies raise the question of possible adverse effects of social overstimulation on infant development.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.