Mouthing and fingering supports vocal behaviors development

Abstract

The current study explored the link between mouthing and fingering and vocal behaviours directed to objects and caregivers. Nine infants were tracked from the ages of 8–16 months by video recording their mouthing and fingering vignettes and vocal behaviours and vocal behaviours resulting in a total of 2,061 coded behaviours. Microanalysis revealed that the infants tended to accompany almost 25% of their mouthing and fingering vignettes with vocalization, a tendency that was found not associated with the attainment of linguistic milestones. Rather, it was found that the combination of mouthing and fingering link to most of the vocal behaviours directed to objects and caregivers. The benefits of mouthing and fingering to vocal behaviours development are discussed in terms of the level of exposure to vocal outputs and information integration skills provided by both exploratory forms.