Intermodal perception at birth: Intersensory redundancy guides newborn infants’ learning of arbitrary auditory−visual pairings

Abstract

In this study the ability of newborn infants to learn arbitrary auditory–visual associations in the absence versus presence of amodal (redundant) and contingent information was investigated. In the auditory‐noncontingent condition 2‐day‐old infants were familiarized to two alternating visual stimuli (differing in colour and orientation), each accompanied by its ‘own’ sound: when the visual stimulus was presented the sound was continuously presented, independently of whether the infant looked at the visual stimulus. In the auditory‐contingent condition the auditory stimulus was presented only when the infant looked at the visual stimulus: thus, presentation of the sound was contingent upon infant looking. On the post‐familiarization test trials attention recovered strongly to a novel auditory–visual combination in the auditory‐contingent condition, but remained low, and indistinguishable from attention to the familiar combination, in the auditory‐noncontingent condition. These findings are a clear demonstration that newborn infants’ learning of arbitrary auditory–visual associations is constrained and guided by the presence of redundant (amodal) contingent information. The findings give strong support to Bahrick’s theory of early intermodal perception.