| Abstract | The relationship between adult speech and body movements of full-term
healthy
newborns was analyzed with a microcomputer (TM990/101M). The
mother, pediatrician, and nurse were asked to talk with the subject, the
infant, freely and also to read structured patterns such as
"hi hi." There was a significant relationship between the
infant's body movements and human voices (P less than 0.01).
As a control, the infant was subjected to white noise,
tapping sounds and to non-patterned sounds, where little relationship
between
body movements and non-human sounds was found. In 17 of 64 examined periods
the infants reacted to the spoken voice with movement within
1.3 +/- 0.5 sec after the words. In 20/64, the mother spoke to the
infant with a 1.4 +/- 0.4 sec latency after his movements.
In 15/64, both the infant's movements and adult speech
occurred at almost the same time with a 0.05 +/- 0.2 sec lag. This
analytical
method using a computer suggests not only the ability of a neonate to move
his body synchronously with his mother's speech, but also that a mother
also
talks to her infant by reacting to his movements. This may
be the basic process of language acquisition, and this method may have
applications in the early diagnosis of some neurological diseases. |