Santapuram Pooja, Feldman Jacob I, Bowman Sarah M, Raj Sweeya, Suzman Evan, Crowley Shannon, Kim So Yoon, Keceli-Kaysili Bahar, Bottema-Beutel Kristen, Lewkowicz David J, Wallace Mark T, Woynaroski Tiffany G
Vanderbilt School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
Department of Hearing & Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
Mind Brain Educ. 2022 Feb;16(1):62-74. doi: 10.1111/mbe.12310. Epub 2022 Jan 19.
Looking to the mouth of a talker early in life predicts expressive communication. We hypothesized that looking at a talker's mouth may signal that infants are ready for increased supported joint engagement and that it subsequently facilitates prelinguistic vocal development and translates to broader gains in expressive communication. We tested this hypothesis in 50 infants aged 6-18 months with heightened and general population-level likelihood of autism diagnosis (Sibs-autism and Sibs-NA; respectively). We measured infants' gaze to a speaker's face using an eye tracking task, supported joint engagement during parent-child free play sessions, vocal complexity during a communication sample, and broader expressive communication. Looking at the mouth was indirectly associated with expressive communication via increased higher-order supported joint engagement and vocal complexity. This indirect effect did not vary according to sibling status. This study provides preliminary insights into the mechanisms by which looking at the mouth may influence expressive communication development.
在生命早期关注说话者的嘴部预示着表达性沟通能力。我们假设，注视说话者的嘴部可能表明婴儿已准备好增加有支持的联合参与，随后这会促进前语言发声发展，并转化为表达性沟通方面更广泛的进步。我们在50名6至18个月大、患自闭症可能性高于一般人群水平的婴儿（分别为自闭症兄弟姐妹组和非自闭症兄弟姐妹组）中对这一假设进行了测试。我们使用眼动追踪任务测量婴儿对说话者面部的注视、在亲子自由玩耍环节中的有支持的联合参与、沟通样本中的发声复杂性以及更广泛的表达性沟通。注视嘴部通过增加更高层次的有支持的联合参与和发声复杂性与表达性沟通存在间接关联。这种间接效应并不因兄弟姐妹的状况而有所不同。本研究为注视嘴部可能影响表达性沟通发展的机制提供了初步见解。
