Frequency discrimination by young infants

Child Dev. 1975 Mar;46(1):272-5.

Abstract

The nonnutritive sucking of groups of 1-month-old infants was conjugately reinforced with either a 200-H or a 500-H pure tone. Following response acquisition and satiation, the sucking of the experimental groups was reinforced with a new pure tone (either 500 or 200 H) to a criterion of response decrement, after which sucking was reinforced with the original tone. Control groups were reinforced with a single tone (200 or 500 H) throughout the experiment. Frequency of nonnutritive sucking increased significantly in the experimental groups following a shift in frequency of the reinforcing tone but remained unchanged in the control groups, indicating discrimination between 200- and 500-H tones.

MeSH terms

  • Acoustic Stimulation
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Male
  • Pitch Discrimination*
  • Reinforcement, Psychology
  • Satiation
  • Sex Factors
  • Sucking Behavior*
  • Time Factors