Fetal sensitivity to properties of maternal speech and language

Kisilevsky, Barbara S.; Hains, Sylvia M. J.; Brown, C. Ann; Lee, C.T.; Cowperthwaite, B.; Stutzman, Sherri Schmidt; Swansburg, Melissa L.; Lee, K.; Xie, Xing; Huang, He‐Feng; Ye, H.-H.; Zhang, K.; Wang, Z.

doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2008.10.002

Cited by 226 publications

(118 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…auditory | brain | mother's voice | heartbeat | preterm newborns O ne of the first acoustic stimuli we are exposed to before birth is the voice of the mother and the sounds of her heartbeat. As fetuses, we have substantial capacity for auditory learning and memory already in utero (1)(2)(3)(4)(5), and we are particularly tuned to acoustic cues from our mother (6)(7)(8)(9). Previous research suggests that the innate preference for mother's voice shapes the developmental trajectory of the brain (10,11).…”

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confidence: 99%

Mother’s voice and heartbeat sounds elicit auditory plasticity in the human brain before full gestation

Webb¹,

Heller

Benson

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

195

106

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Brain development is largely shaped by early sensory experience. However, it is currently unknown whether, how early, and to what extent the newborn's brain is shaped by exposure to maternal sounds when the brain is most sensitive to early life programming. The present study examined this question in 40 infants born extremely prematurely (between 25-and 32-wk gestation) in the first month of life. Newborns were randomized to receive auditory enrichment in the form of audio recordings of maternal sounds (including their mother's voice and heartbeat) or routine exposure to hospital environmental noise. The groups were otherwise medically and demographically comparable. Cranial ultrasonography measurements were obtained at 30 ± 3 d of life. Results show that newborns exposed to maternal sounds had a significantly larger auditory cortex (AC) bilaterally compared with control newborns receiving standard care. The magnitude of the right and left AC thickness was significantly correlated with gestational age but not with the duration of sound exposure. Measurements of head circumference and the widths of the frontal horn (FH) and the corpus callosum (CC) were not significantly different between the two groups. This study provides evidence for experience-dependent plasticity in the primary AC before the brain has reached full-term maturation. Our results demonstrate that despite the immaturity of the auditory pathways, the AC is more adaptive to maternal sounds than environmental noise. Further studies are needed to better understand the neural processes underlying this early brain plasticity and its functional implications for future hearing and language development. auditory | brain | mother's voice | heartbeat | preterm newborns

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mother’s voice and heartbeat sounds elicit auditory plasticity in the human brain before full gestation

Webb¹,

Heller

Benson

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

195

106

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Indeed, in a recent study, speech perception was examined in 104 low-risk fetuses at 33-41 weeks of gestational age using a familiarization/novelty paradigm (3). One of the experiments shows that fetuses of English-speaking mothers discriminate English from Mandarin, two languages that are very different in rhythm.…”

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confidence: 99%

Language acquisition in premature and full-term infants

Peña

Pittaluga

Mehler

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

146

122

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We tested healthy preterm (born near 28 ± 2 weeks of gestational age) and full-term infants at various different ages. We compared the two populations on the development of a language acquisition landmark, namely, the ability to distinguish the native language from a rhythmically similar one. This ability is attained 4 months after birth in healthy full-term infants. We measured the induced gamma-band power associated with passive listening to (i) the infants' native language (Spanish), (ii) a rhythmically close language (Italian), and (iii) a rhythmically distant language (Japanese) as a marker of gains in language discrimination. Preterm and full-term infants were matched for neural maturation and duration of exposure to broadcast speech. We found that both full-term and preterm infants only display a response to native speech near 6 months after their term age. Neural maturation seems to constrain advances in speech discrimination at early stages of language acquisition.gamma-band oscillations | preterm infant | speech | rhythm | development H ow much do healthy immature brains gain from exposure to broadcast speech? Unfortunately, very few studies have investigated the interaction between experience and brain maturation in healthy premature infants during the early stages of cognitive development (1). Highly premature infants whose nervous system is immature are confronted with a wide range of external stimulation with unknown consequences on cognitive development. Here, we explore the neural correlate of a landmark of language acquisition, namely, the discrimination of the maternal language from rhythmically similar languages (2).A fair number of behavioral studies have demonstrated that fetuses and neonates distinguish utterances of languages belonging to different rhythmic classes. Indeed, in a recent study, speech perception was examined in 104 low-risk fetuses at 33-41 weeks of gestational age using a familiarization/novelty paradigm (3). One of the experiments shows that fetuses of English-speaking mothers discriminate English from Mandarin, two languages that are very different in rhythm. Moreover, other studies with 2-to 4-day-old neonates and a larger set of language pairs show different responses depending on whether the utterances belong to the same or two different rhythmic classes (2, 4, 5). In other words, once neonates become habituated to utterances of a given language, they show an increase in their nonnutritive sucking rate only when they are exposed to utterances of languages that belong to a different rhythmic class. However, at this age, neonates do not distinguish a switch that occurs between two languages that belong to the same rhythmic class. Other studies have established that it is only after 4 months that full-term infants are able to distinguish utterances in their native language from those of a language that belongs to the same rhythmic class (6, 7). How does this ability develop in healthy highly premature infants? Would preterm infants exposed to their native language for nea...

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“…To date, prenatal vocal learning was only demonstrated in humans (e.g., Kisilevsky et al 2009, Moon et al 2013 and one songbird species, the Australian Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus) (Colombelli-Négrel et al 2012, 2014Kleindorfer et al 2014b). In our long-term research, we found that Superb Fairywren females called to their eggs and vocally tutored their embryos a particular element of their incubation call during incubation, which was later produced by the nestlings as a begging call (ColombelliNégrel et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%