Turn-Taking in Mother-Infant Interaction: An Examination of Vocalizations and Gaze

Two laboratory studies are reported in which analyses were made of vocal coordination and gaze in mother-infant play. The first was a cross-sectional comparison of 12-, 18-, and 24-month-old children, 6 in each group; the second a longitudinal study in which 17 children were examined quarterly from 9 to 24 months and a subset of 9 continued quarterly to 36 months. Three questions were addressed: When do infants begin to play an active role in maintaining the coordination of interactions? When do they begin to use gaze to signal that they have completed their vocalization and to indicate attention when the other person is speaking? and Are there individual differences in vocal coordination and gaze that remain consistent over time? Active structuring of vocal interaction was found by the end of the second year, and gaze began to approximate the typical adult pattern of signaling as early as 18 months. There were marked and consistent individual differences. The implications for theory and research are discussed, particularly in conversational pragmatics.