Development of Naming Responses to Meaningful Nonverbal Sounds

Abstract

Tests of sound and picture naming were presented to 118 children between 3 ½ and 16 yr. of age to assess perceptual development for meaningful nonverbal sounds and to compare nonverbal visual and auditory perception. Sound naming improved rapidly until the ninth year, did not differ significantly between boys and girls, and was positively correlated with the frequency of usage of the stimulus names. Virtually all children were poorer in sound naming than in picture naming. It was concluded that nonverbal visual stimuli may be more salient than nonverbal auditory stimuli in the perceptual world of children. Results were interpreted with respect to the concept of modality dominance.