Maurer and Werker (2014) compared infants and adults in their perceptions of the two ways of saying the "t" sound in Hindi.Hindi speakers recognize the difference between these two sounds.To English-speaking adults, however, they both sound like "t," and the adults do not hear the difference.The researchers found that ______.
A)English-learning infants were not able to discriminate between the two "t" sounds because of prenatal exposure to English
B)Hindi-learning babies did not learn the distinction between the two "t" sounds until they were capable of their own speech
C)there were no differences between the English- and Hindi-learning babies until they reached roughly 18 months of age
D)both sets of babies could reliably distinguish the two "t" sounds at 6 months of age, but at 10 months of age only the Hindi-learning babies could do so

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The researchers found that both sets of babies could reliably distinguish the two "t" sounds at 6 months of age, but at 10 months of age only the Hindi-learning babies could do so. This suggests that there is a critical period for language acquisition, and that infants' ability to perceive certain phonetic distinctions may become more difficult as they are exposed to less of those distinctions in their environment.

Maurer and Werker (2014) Compared Infants and Adults in Their