Background Assessment of mother-child interactions is a core issue of early child
development and psychopathology. This paper focuses on the concept of “synchrony” and …

Early childhood is a critical period for language and cognitive development. Evidence
suggests that children need “language nutrition”, or language-rich interactions with …

Since the mid-20th century, scientists have observed unique features in speech, facial
expression, and content directed to infants and toddlers in comparison to speech directed to …

The field of nonverbal communication (NVC) has a long history involving many cue
modalities, including face, voice, body, touch, and interpersonal space; different levels of …

Importance Caregivers have long captured the attention of their infants by speaking in
motherese, a playful speech style characterized by heightened affect. Reduced attention to …

In Psychology of Music: From Sound to Significance (2nd edition), the authors consider
music on a broad scale, from its beginning as an acoustical signal to its different …

Human infant vocalization is viewed as a critical foundation for vocal learning and language.
All apes share distress sounds (shrieks and cries) and laughter. Another vocal type, speech …

Among mammals who invest in the production of a relatively small number of offspring,
bonding is a critical strategy for survival. Mother–infant bonding among humans is not only …

Previous studies reveal an association between particular features of parental language
input and advances in children's language learning. However, it is not known whether …

Infant-directed speech (IDS) is the particular voice register observed in the majority of
parents in interaction with their infants and differs from natural speech used in conversations …