Exploring variation in infants' preference for infant-directed speech: Evidence from a multi-site study in Africa

Tsui, S. M., Carstensen, A., Kachergis, G., Cao, A., Abubakar, A., Asnake, M., Barry, O., Basnight-Brown, D. M., Bentu, D., Bergmann, C., Dami, E. B., Boll-Avetisyan, N., de Jongh, M., Diop, Y., Duah, R. A., Herrmann, E., Jang, C., Kizito, S., Lamba, T., Maliwichi-Senganimalunje, L. Tsui, S. M., Carstensen, A., Kachergis, G., Cao, A., Abubakar, A., Asnake, M., Barry, O., Basnight-Brown, D. M., Bentu, D., Bergmann, C., Dami, E. B., Boll-Avetisyan, N., de Jongh, M., Diop, Y., Duah, R. A., Herrmann, E., Jang, C., Kizito, S., Lamba, T., Maliwichi-Senganimalunje, L., Marangu, J., Mathur, M., Mbagaya, C. V., Mengistie, D. M., Milton, C., Mushimiyimana, F., Ndhambi, M., Ngina, I., Njoroge, E., Oburu, P. O., Okocha, A., Omane, P. O., Singh, A., Ssemata, A. S., Unyuzumutima, J., Zeidler, H., Lew-Williams, C., & Frank, M. C. (2026). Exploring variation in infants' preference for infant-directed speech: Evidence from a multi-site study in Africa. Developmental Science, 29(5): e70242. doi:10.1111/desc.70242.
Infants show a preference for infant-directed speech (IDS) over adult-directed speech (ADS). This preference has been linked to infants' language processing and word learning in experimental settings, and also correlates with later language outcomes. Recently, the cross-cultural consistency of infants' IDS preference has been confirmed by large-scale, multisite replication studies, but conclusions from these studies were primarily based on participants from North America and Europe. The current study addressed this sampling bias via a large-scale, multisite study of infants (3–15 months) across communities in Africa. We investigated whether participants showed a preference for IDS over ADS, and if so, whether the magnitude of their preference differs from effects documented in other populations of infants. Across six sites (total N = 200), we observed a preference for IDS over ADS (̂B IDSvs.ADS = 0.06), suggesting that infants look on average 6% longer on the IDS trials than the ADS trials. There was no significant difference between African infants in this study and a method-matched subsample of infants from prior studies of IDS preference. This study provides new evidence on the generalizability of IDS preference and looking-time methods more broadly, while also highlighting some of the challenges of global big team science.
Publication type
Journal article
Publication date
2026

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