AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 246, Issue 6 895-R896, Copyright © 1984 by American Physiological Society
Intrinsic characteristics of activity: a comment on Kent's psychobiology
M. R. Smith
Kent has made seven statements that should inspire responses from
linguists, kinesiologists, and developmentalists, among others. His goal of
reforming our current theoretical perspective on the development of speech
will be accomplished, in part, by their corrections, elaborations, and
further speculations. Not all of his statements have the same status or
consequence for an evolving theory of development. Those on the anatomic
and neurological differences between infants and adults are much less
controversial than those on the initial separateness of the perception and
production systems or those on the relation of rhythmic behavior to
phonology. Across all the statements, two major topics merit discussion: 1)
the relevant descriptive terms of the vocal behavior of infants and 2) the
relation of vocal activity to other behavior.
