FULL-TERM AND PRETERM INFANTS PERCEPTION OF FACE VOICE SYNCHRONY

This study investigated auditory-visual matching of faces and voices by preterm versus full-term infants at 3, 5, and 7 months of age. A total of 141 infants were tested using a two-screen preference procedure in which subjects were presented side-by-side videos of two females reciting nursery rhymes while a centrally presented voice soundtrack was synchronized with only one film. A significantly higher rate of visual fixation to the sound-matching films was observed in the full-term 3- and 7-month groups, but not at 5 months. Longitudinal testing confirmed the U-shaped developmental curve for full-term infants' task performance. In contrast to full terms, preterm infants did not display evidence of detecting face-voice synchrony. This suggests that an auditory-visual matching deficit may be associated with infant prematurity.