ABSTRACT
As is evident throughout this volume, the development of early infant-mother interactions is a complex and multifaceted issue. My considerations of Baby XXI will focus on one particular aspect of this complicated and fascinating developmental process: the effects of prenatal experience on the response to the maternal voice. My interest in this specific capability grew out of questions relating to how the young infant is able to make sense of his or her early environment. That is, how is the newborn equipped to deal with this mandate to interact and adapt to the ex utero world and how has fetal experience shaped the development of the requisite equipment? The baby, faced with a myriad of stimuli, must learn to pay attention to some kinds of stimulation and learn to ignore others. My belief is that the newborn’s preferential response to the mother’s voice may aid in this early learning task, and that the development of this capability is a model for the sculpting effects of experiences in utero. This chapter focuses on our research attempts to characterize this early preference and to understand whence it came. I would also like to take this opportunity to speculate on how continued exploration of these issues could affect both Baby XXI and Fetus XXI.
