Cross-modal mapping of visual and acoustic displays in infants: The effect of dynamic and static components

Abstract

Children as well as adults make certain links between the visual and the acoustic domain. For example, higher pitched sounds are typically associated with visual stimuli that are brighter, smaller, and higher in space than those associated with sounds of lower pitch. The present study explored the existence of such links in infancy. More specifically, we investigated the relation between visuospatial height and auditory pitch in 7- to 12-month-olds, varying systematically the format of stimulus presentation. Presenting dynamic visual and acoustic stimuli led to positive findings relying on anticipatory looking measures: While listening to an ascending tone, infants looked longer where they had previously seen an upwards moving circle. While listening to a descending tone, they looked longer where they had previously seen a downwards moving circle. When static tones were combined with static visual stimuli in the same kind of display, no corresponding findings were obtained. Thus, the present work suggests that preverbal infants do not generally associate spatial location and pitch but do so systematically when dynamic stimuli are presented.