Behavioral and Neural Foundations of Multisensory Face-Voice Perception in Infancy

Dev Neuropsychol. 2016 Jul-Dec;41(5-8):273-292. doi: 10.1080/87565641.2016.1255744. Epub 2017 Jan 6.

Abstract

In this article, we describe behavioral and neurophysiological evidence for infants' multimodal face-voice perception. We argue that the behavioral development of face-voice perception, like multimodal perception more broadly, is consistent with the intersensory redundancy hypothesis (IRH). Furthermore, we highlight that several recently observed features of the neural responses in infants converge with the behavioral predictions of the intersensory redundancy hypothesis. Finally, we discuss the potential benefits of combining brain and behavioral measures to study multisensory processing, as well as some applications of this work for atypical development.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Age Factors
  • Association Learning / physiology
  • Attention / physiology
  • Brain Mapping
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
  • Cognition / physiology
  • Communication*
  • Evoked Potentials / physiology
  • Facial Recognition / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Language Development*
  • Speech Acoustics
  • Speech Perception / physiology*
  • Voice*