# THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPEECH PERCEPTION CAPACITIES

> **NIH NIH R01** · STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO · 1994 · $215,848

## Abstract

A series of experiments is proposed for investigating the nature of the
basic capacities underlying speech perception in infants and the subsequent
development of these capacities in the process of acquiring a native
language. The proposed studies have several objectives. First, they are
intended to explore the nature of the sensory and perceptual mechanisms
underlying speech processing, especially as these relate to other cognitive
and perceptual capacities. In particular, the influence of memory and
attentional demands on the development of speech perception win be
explored. Second, we also plan to investigate the contributions of infants'
speech perception capacities to the acquisition of language. Our focus in
this area will be on the way that sensitivity to the sound patterns of the
native language could provide infants with important information about the
nature and organization of important grammatical units in the native
language. The third objective of our proposed studies is to determine the
way that the representation of speech changes as information is acquired
about the structure and organization of words and sounds in the native
language. Our strategy here is to delineate the kinds of information that
are encoded in infants' representations of speech, to follow any changes
that occur to the sensitivity of the characteristic sound patterns of the
native language and describe what their impact is on the representation of
speech sounds by language learning infants. Finally, we want to explore
possible relations between the infant's processing of prosodic and phonetic
levels of language. A general issue here concerns whether sensitivity to
these levels develops more or less independently or whether there are
mutual influences during the early stages of language acquisition.

To achieve these ends, we plan to employ a variety of different
methodologies suitable for testing infants during the first year of life.
These include sucking, visual preference and operant headturning
procedures. In the past, one obstacle to understanding how speech
perception capacities function in language acquisition is that the range of
situations in which these capacities were assessed were quite restricted as
compared to the natural environment. We plan to vary the memory and
attentional demands of our tasks in an effort to learn more about the way
that such capacities function in the real world. Speech perception is
certainly one of the basic prerequisites for normal human communication.
Our research is intended to contribute to the understanding of this
fundamental ability. The research has practical relevance for those
studying communication disorders. Information about the way that speech
perception develops provides a baseline for assessing abnormalities that
may arise. Early identification of such abnormalities is essential to the
formulation of effective treatment programs.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2197241
- **Project number:** 5R01HD015795-14
- **Recipient organization:** STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO
- **SAM.gov UEI:** LMCJKRFW5R81
- **Principal Investigator:** PETER W JUSCZYK
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $215,848
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1981-07-01 → 1995-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2197241

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2197241, THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPEECH PERCEPTION CAPACITIES (5R01HD015795-14). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2197241. Licensed CC0.

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