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Infant emotion and the vocal affect lexicon

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Abstract

The role of the vocal channel of emotion expression in infancy has been neglected in developmental theory. The present review describes the ontogenetic course of vocal emotional expression as exhibited by human and infrahuman primate young and considers its dynamic relationship to the facial and bodily components of expression. The infant's encoding of negative and positive emotion expression is discussed within a developmental framework. In addition, this review assesses the impact of early social influences. It is concluded that early patterns of infant vocal emotional expression are probably biogenetically determined and that there may be certain universal vocal signals. However, data derived from studies of dyadic interaction indicate that the transition from raw affect expression in early infancy to a more modulated pattern later on is a product not only of neuromuscular maturation but of maternal coaching in affective expression as well.

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The author thanks David Brodzinsky, Richard Curtin, and Horst D. Steklis for their critical reading of the manuscript. Special thanks are also due Rae Carlson, Jeannette Haviland, and Carroll Izard for earlier suggestions.

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Malatesta, C.Z. Infant emotion and the vocal affect lexicon. Motiv Emot 5, 1–23 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00993658

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