Infants' Bimodal Perception of Gender |
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Abstract: | Two experiments were independently conducted in separate labs to determine whether infants are sensitive to intermodal information specifying gender across dynamic displays of faces and voices. In one study, 4- and 6-month-old infants were presented simultaneously with a single videotape of a male face and a female face accompanied by a single voice for two 2 min trials. In the second study 3 112 and 6 month olds were also presented videotapes of male and female faces accompanied by a single voice but for a series of short trials. Temporal synchrony between face and voice was controlled in both studies by presenting both male and female faces speaking in synchrony with a single soundtrack. In both experiments the 6 month olds showed evidence of matching faces and voices on the basis of gender. They significantly increased their looking to a face when the gender-appropriate voice was played. Four month olds gave evidence for matching the faces and voices based on gender information only on the second trial of Experiment 1, whereas the 3 and a half month olds failed to show any preferential looking. |
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