Human turn-taking development: A multi-faceted review of turn-taking comprehension and production in the first years of life

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Human communication builds on a highly cooperative and interactional infrastructure—conversational turn-taking. Turn-taking is characterized by reciprocal, alternating exchanges between two or more interactants, avoidance of overlap, and relatively short response times. Although the behavioral principles governing turn-taking in spoken interactions of human adults have been investigated for decades, relatively little is known about the acquisition of conversational turn-taking skills and the developmental trajectories of turn-taking comprehension and production. The aim of the present review was to provide a comprehensive overview of turn-taking development enabling the extrapolation of developmental milestones and investigations across species and taxa. it thus aims to serve as a crucial guide to our current understanding of turn-taking in childhood and instigate a better understanding of turn-taking phylogeny, its evolutionary roots, as well as systematic, quantitative applications across and between species, thereby possibly bridging the existing gap between linguistic and nonlinguistic species.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2669–2695
Number of pages27
JournalPsychonomic bulletin & review
Volume32
Issue number6
Early online date7 Aug 2025
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 105012883777

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • Social interactions, Developmental milestones, Phylogenetic perspective, Conversational turn-taking