The Developmental Origins of Phonological Memory

Phonological memory, or the ability to remember a novel word string well enough to repeat it, has long been characterized as a time-limited store. An alternative embodiment model sees it as the product of the dynamic sensorimotor (perceptual and production) processes that inform responses to speech. Keren-Portnoy et al. (2010) demonstrated that this capacity, often tested through nonword repetition and found to predict lexical advance, is itself predicted by the first advances in babbling. Pursuing the idea that phonological memory develops through vocal production, we trace its development-drawing on illustrative data from children learning six languages-from the earliest adult-like vocalizations through to the first words and the consolidation of early words into an initial lexical network and more stable representational capacity. We suggest that it is the interaction of perceptual and production experience that mediates the mapping of new forms onto lexical representations.