Child-directed speech produced by mothers with symptoms of depression fails to promote associative learning in 4-month-old infants

Child-directed (CD) speech segments produced by 20 mothers who varied in se lf-reported symptoms of depression, recorded during a structured play inter action with their 2- to 6-month-old infants, were used as conditioned stimu li with face reinforcers in a conditioned attention paradigm. After pairing s of speech segments and faces, speech segments were assessed for their abi lity to increase time spent looking at a novel checker-board pattern (summa tion test) using 225 4-month-old infants of nondepressed mothers. Significa nt positive summation, an index of associative learning, was obtained in gr oups of infants tested with speech produced by mothers with comparatively f ewer self-reported symptoms of depression (Beck Depression Inventory or BDI less than or equal to 1.5). However, significant positive summation was no t achieved using speech samples produced by mothers with comparatively more symptoms of depression (BDI > 1.5). These results indicate that the CD spe ech produced by mothers with symptoms of depression does not promote associ ative learning in infants.