Behavioral and Neural Foundations of Multisensory Face-Voice Perception in Infancy

ABSTRACT

In this article, we describe behavioral and neurophysiological evidence for infants’ multimodal face-voice perception. We argue that the behavioral development of face-voice perception, like multimodal perception more broadly, is consistent with the intersensory redundancy hypothesis (IRH). Furthermore, we highlight that several recently observed features of the neural responses in infants converge with the behavioral predictions of the intersensory redundancy hypothesis. Finally, we discuss the potential benefits of combining brain and behavioral measures to study multisensory processing, as well as some applications of this work for atypical development.

Acknowledgments

Some portions of this manuscript were previously published in the following chapter: Flom, R. (2012). Intersensory perception of faces and voices in infants. In P. Belin, S. Campanella, & T. Ethofer (Eds.) Integrating Face and Voice in Person Perception. Springer. Use occurs with permission.