On Perceptual Predispositions for Human Speech and Monkey Vocalizations

Abstract

Early models of infant speech perception posited the existence at birth of special speech-processing mechanisms. More recent research with both adults and infants has questioned the fundamental claim that speech sounds require special sensory coding strategies. Instead, if a speech-specific perceptual mode exists at all, it probably takes the form of certain attentional and interpretive processes enlisted when treating speech signals as linguistic messages. Interestingly, this view is also consistent with some recent research on vocal perception mechanisms used by monkeys. A shift in emphasis from speech-specific sensory codes to interpretive specializations leads to a new model of the development of speech perception capacities.