Il était une fois… C’era una volta… De la narrativité verbale à la narrativité non verbale des interactions mères-bébés

Inspirées par Jérôme Bruner (1990) qui préconise la prise en compte de l’activité narrative comme une capacité précoce de l’esprit humain organisant les expériences sous formes de narrations, nous portons notre attention sur les premiers échanges parlés entre mères et nourrissons parmi des populations européennes. Le bébé communique expressivement avant ses premières paroles. Les études minutieuses sur le bébé de moins de 6 mois en interaction nous montrent que le bébé est capable de communiquer, notamment avec sa mère, dès les premières semaines de vie (Malloch, 1999 ; Gratier, 2001). Avant l’acquisition du langage, il s’agit d’une communication précoce à travers une musicalité partagée et interactionnelle

Infants' overlapping vocalizations during maternal humming : Contributions to the synchronization of preterm dyads

Abstract Despite the neurological vulnerability of premature newborns, there is evidence that they are able to process temporal aspects of the maternal voice, as a previous study observed more overlapping vocalizations during maternal humming versus speech. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the markers of the infants’ overlapping vocalizations. Our aim was to identify the location of overlapping vocalizations during the humming and the impacts of maternal antenatal and postnatal engagement of infant-directed singing on: (1) the features of humming and (2) the infants’ overlapping vocalizations during humming. Preterm dyads (N = 36) were observed in silent, speech, and humming conditions. Microanalysis was performed using the Elan Program to identify the location of the overlapping vocalizations during the humming phrase. Infants’ overlapping vocalizations were found predominantly at the ends of each humming phrase; almost half of the overlaps occurred on the final note. More overlapping vocalization in the final notes were observed in female infants. Antenatal and postnatal experiences of ID singing are influenced by the mothers’ nationality and contribute to maternal humming style. Preterm newborns synchronize with maternal humming, anticipating the end of musical phrases. The ability to synchronize seems to be phylogenetically associated with gender differences.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Vocal responsiveness of preterm infants to maternal infant-directed speaking and singing during skin-to-skin contact (Kangaroo Care) in the NICU

UID/EAT/00693/2013 UID/EAT/00693/2019Vocalizations of full-term newborns occur in a short latency time during the neonatal period. Contingent response time of preterm babies is still unknown. An increase of preterm babies’ vocalizations following exposure to parental speech was also observed. Mothers and babies co-modulate their vocalizations in preterm dyads. Purpose: To observe temporal features of maternal and infants’ vocalizations in speaking and singing conditions in preterm dyads. Methods: In a NICU mothers (N = 36) were invited to speak and to sing to their preterm infants during Kangaroo Care. Microanalysis of temporal units were performed with ELAN Software. Results and conclusions: Preterm infants vocalize less often while their mothers speak and sing than during baseline and their vocalizations tend to be more alternating in the speaking condition and more overlapping in the singing condition. It is also concluded that preterm infants take more time to respond to maternal speaking than to maternal singing.authorsversionpublishe

Sensus Communis: Some Perspectives on the Origins of Non-synchronous Cross-Sensory Associations

Adults readily make associations between stimuli perceived consecutively through different sense modalities, such as shapes and sounds. Researchers have only recently begun to investigate such correspondences in infants but only a handful of studies have focused on infants less than a year old. Are infants able to make cross-sensory correspondences from birth? Do certain correspondences require extensive real-world experience? Some studies have shown that newborns are able to match stimuli perceived in different sense modalities. Yet, the origins and mechanisms underlying these abilities are unclear. The present paper explores these questions and reviews some hypotheses on the emergence and early development of cross-sensory associations and their possible links with language development. Indeed, if infants can perceive cross-sensory correspondences between events that share certain features but are not strictly contingent or co-located, one may posit that they are using a “sixth sense” in Aristotle’s sense of the term. And a likely candidate for explaining this mechanism, as Aristotle suggested, is movement

fala vs. canto

UID/EAT/00693/2019Introdução: O ser humano nasce com uma propensão para a intencionalidade comunicativa e para interpretar as intenções do outro. As vocalizações dos recém-nascidos ocorrem dentro de um curto período de latência de cerca de 1 segundo, sendo observado um aumento de vocalizações em bebês prematuros após a exposição à fala em contexto hospitalar. Objetivo: analisar as características temporais das vocalizações maternas e das vocalizações dos bebês durante as condições da fala materna vs. canto materno. Métodos: Com base nos dados de uma amostra de 36 díades pré-termo, procedemos a microanálises das vocalizações maternas e vocalizações de bebês com recurso ao Programa ELAN. Resultados: O canto materno, quando comparado com a fala materna apresenta características temporais diferentes. Observamos uma diminuição das vocalizações dos bebés prematuros em ambas as condições comparativamente à condição de baseline silencioso sugerindo que o canto materno ou a fala estimulam a atenção dos bebês; o canto materno, comparativamente à condição de fala, induz um aumento das co-vocalizações das díades. Verificou-se que os bebês prematuros reagem vocalmente com um tempo de latência maior na condição de fala do que na condição do canto. Conclusões: Os resultados sugerem a existência de uma sintonização vocal precoce em díades pré-termo, sendo o canto uma condição favorável para a co-modulação vocal entre mães e bebês enquanto a fala parece constituir uma condição propícia à alternância e reciprocidade na comunicação.publishersversionpublishe

Cross-species parallels in babbling: animals and algorithms

A key feature of vocal ontogeny in a variety of taxa with extensive vocal repertoires is a developmental pattern in which vocal exploration is followed by a period of category formation that results in a mature species-specific repertoire. Vocal development preceding the adult repertoire is often called ‘babbling’, a term used to describe aspects of vocal development in species of vocal-learning birds, some marine mammals, some New World monkeys, some bats and humans. The paper summarizes the results of research on babbling in examples from five taxa and proposes a unifying definition facilitating their comparison. There are notable similarities across these species in the developmental pattern of vocalizations, suggesting that vocal production learning might require babbling. However, the current state of the literature is insufficient to confirm this suggestion. We suggest directions for future research to elucidate this issue, emphasizing the importance of (i) expanding the descriptive data and seeking species with complex mature repertoires where babbling may not occur or may occur only to a minimal extent; (ii) (quasi-)experimental research to tease apart possible mechanisms of acquisition and/or self-organizing development; and (iii) computational modelling as a methodology to test hypotheses about the origins and functions of babbling

De la musique au langage

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Grounding in musical interaction: Evidence from jazz performances

  This study explores the issue of mutual understanding between musicians in improvised performance. It attempts to describe how improvising musicians indicate to each other that they have grasped each other's expressive intentions in order to collaboratively negotiate common expressive trajectories. The process of moment-to-moment monitoring of shared understanding is referred to as "grounding". Shared knowledge, beliefs and assumptions provide an important basis for grounding and grounding in turn reinforces a "common ground" of shared representation. Based on research on "grounding" in conversational exchange and on studies of nonverbal mother-infant interaction, some possible indices of "grounding" in musical interaction are discussed. Grounding in conversational exchange is attained through acknowledgement, relevance and sustained attention. It is proposed here that displays of mutual understanding between musicians are rooted in a collaboratively negotiated embodied phrasing through which repetition, mirroring and matching, punctuation, and completion and synchronisation might constitute the musical basis for grounding.    

Atmosphere and intersubjectivity: lessons from photography

International audienceFrom birth, human beings partake in the vast circulations of air that compose atmosphere. Air cycles across life forms. It rhythmically enters and exits the bodies of animals with every breath. Every living being is connected to other living beings through air. Humans must indeed recognize their vital debt to plant life which is the source of all breathable air (Coccia, 2016). The rhythms of breathing are connected to terrain, effort, emotion and sociality.Air, mind and atmosphere appear to be etymologically intertwined. In Sanskrit Atman means ‘vital breath’ as well as ‘soul’. In Greek Atmos means ‘vapour’ and Psyche means ‘breath’ and ‘soul’. Spiritus in Latin means ‘wind’ and Anima designates both ‘breath’ and ‘soul’. Could atmospheres be involved in the very constitution of the human mind?In this paper I wish to explore the connection between intersubjectivity, atmosphere and human development. I take as point of departure a few photographs that portray people intensively involved in a moment of sharing within real-world happenings

Raconter en chantant : musicalité et narrativité au cœur du développement humain

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