Infants can detect changes in music that adults cannot make. This phenomenon is thought to demonstrate
A) perceptual narrowing.
B) sensory decay.
C) perceptual decline.
D) sensory contraction.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Perceptual narrowing refers to the process by which infants' perception becomes more specialized over time, focusing on the sounds that are most relevant to their native language and culture. This means that as they age, infants become better at detecting differences in the sounds that are important to their language and culture, while losing the ability to detect differences in sounds that are not relevant. The fact that infants can detect changes in music that adults cannot make suggests that they are more sensitive to these subtle acoustic differences, and are therefore still in the process of developing their capacity for perceptual narrowing.

Infants Can Detect Changes in Music That Adults Cannot Make