A comparison of social and nonsocial reinforcement in the conditioning of infant vocalizations

Tudiver, Judy (1973) A comparison of social and nonsocial reinforcement in the conditioning of infant vocalizations. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate several stimulus properties of the reinforcers used in the conditioning of infant vocalizations: (a) social and nonsocial value, (b) modality (auditory and visual), (c) the effect of the adult presence on the social and nonsocial reinforcers, and (d) the sex of the Ss. The Ss were 48 home-reared infants ranging from 75 to 118 days old. The result demonstrated that the rate of infant vocalization can be increased by contingent responses from the infant’s environment, both social and nonsocial. Sex and modality were found to be the important factors in the conditioning of infant vocalizations. Visual reinforcers appeared to be the most effective for males, while for females, visual and auditory reinforcers were equally effective. Possible explanations for this finding were hypothesized on the basis of the differential developmental rates of the sensory systems and the differential developmental rates of the sexes.

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