言語発達過程に関して、発達早期の乳児は母語以外に含まれる母音や子音を弁別するのに対し、発達後期の乳児は弁別しなくなるというPerceptual Narrowing仮説が提案されている。本研究では子音の対立/l-r/および/b-g/を用いて、9.5か月の日本人乳児を対象とした馴化・脱馴化法による行動実験と、5.5か月の日本人乳児を対象としたNIRSによる脳活動計測を実施した。実験の結果、/b-g/の変化に対して、9.5か月児の注視時間が増加し、また、5.5か月児の左下前頭回近辺の活動が上昇した。一方、/l-r/の変化に対してはいずれの実験についても有意な効果は認めず、日本人乳児が/l-r/の対立を弁別していることを示唆する結果は得られなかった。慎重な解釈が必要ではあるが、乳児の言語発達過程にはPerceptual Narrowing仮説だけでは説明できない部分があるのかもしれない。

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Hekimenkousei , or hekimensoushoku , refers to the creation of displays which adorn preschool classroom walls, and may include material created by the children or their teachers. Although such displays have long been a familiar element in the preschool environment, serious research examining their purpose and effectiveness has been rare. In this study, a group of preschool and kindergarten teachers were surveyed according to various aspects of hekimensoushoku . Based on their responses, a thorough examination of the qualities and effectiveness of these displays was conducted.Many subjects noted that as a vital environmental feature, wall displays contribute uniquely to the atmosphere of the preschool classroom, and that the quality of their color, layout, andconstruction all contribute to their effectiveness. At the same time, a great number of those surveyed admitted that due to time and budgetary limits, they often rely at least partially on readymade visual material from educational publications and other sources to create attractive displays.However, building the displays together with and incorporating material made by the children into the displays, they felt, provided the children with valuable creative and evaluative experiences.

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これまで幼児期の楽音の音高識別力については,Seashore(1936)の音楽能力テストや音研式音楽能力診断テスト(音楽心理研究所,1966)などで取り上げられているものの,音高識別力の機序は充分に明らかにされていない。その理由として,幼児の音高識別力の評定する確立した方法がないということがあげられる。現代の乳幼児を取り巻く音楽環境の多様さを考慮すると,幼稚園,保育所における指導,教材等の方法を検討する際,音高識別力の発達の様相を知ることは重要と考える。本研究では,幼児の音高識別力の評定方法について検討するため,まず実験1で3歳児を対象に音研式テストをもとに開発した,絵と音高列とのマッチングによる音高識別実験を行った。そこから明らかとなった評定方法の問題点を考慮し,実験2で音感ベルを刺激とした音高識別実験を,2〜6歳児に実施した。その結果,2,3歳児と4,5,6歳児の間で有意な識別成績の差が見られた。本実験で用いた評定方法より得られた結果は,幼児の音高識別力は識別成績が加齢とともに上昇する傾向を示すものだった。さらに,2,3歳児のための楽音の音高識別力の評定方法の必要性が明らかとなった。

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The experiment described in this paper was designed to investigate the acoustics of living spaces, with the aim of fostering the design of more comfortable environments acoustically optimized for infant childcare. Recently, incidents of infant abuse reportedly triggered by excessive crying have been on the rise. One cause, we hypothesized, could be the changing structure of Japanese homes. Using recordings of crying meant to be maximally stress-inducing to mothers, the experiment was designed to examine the effect of a change in the acoustic environment upon a listener's perception of an infant's voice. Subjects were asked to listen to two recordings of the same voice at 90dB±1dB, the first given a reverberation time of 270 ms (simulating an “anechoic environment”), and the second with a time of 970 ms (an “echoic environment”). Subjects reported that they felt “tired,” “uneasy,” and that they experienced “headache” and “ringing in the ears” at a higher rate in the echoic than in the anechoic environment. However, responses indicating hypothetical maternal behavior such as a desire to“determine why the baby is crying”or to“calm the baby”were reported at approximately equal rates in both environments. These results indicate that an echoic environment may exacerbate the stress experienced by a mother listening to a crying infant.Further research examining the ways in which actual mother-infant pairs play and communicate in varying acoustic environments is planned.

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The purpose of the present study is to analyze the characteristics of the living room space that provides comfortable environment for the infants and family members from the aspect of sound. This study focuses mainlyon the evaluation of the sound characteristics of the living space that support and maintain the development of verbal communication ability that can be cultivated significantly by the interaction between the infants and the parents.In this year, we directed our attention to the infant crying and study the relationship between the living space and the sound characteristics. We investigated the actual conditions of the sound pressure level (dB) and sound pitch (Hz) inherent to the infant crying. A total of 28 pairs of infants and mothers or fathers, two months to one year and 11 months in age, participated in the measurement. We recorded the infant crying at the site one meter apart from the infant's mouth in an anechoic room. The measurement data were analyzed and four patterns of sound characteristics were detected. The infant crying characterized by the high-frequency component and the large volume was recognized as a crying indicating increased emergency and appeared to have considerable effects on the surroundings. In this experiment, we take an approach to relate the parent's pattern of hearing of the infant crying with the sound environment inside of the room.The results of this study contribute to the process of remodeling of the living space, and to suggest for the recent childcare related problems including of child abuse.