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Sleeping newborns extract prosody from continuous speech

Sambeth, Anke ; Ruohio, Katja ; Alku, Paavo ; Fellman, Vineta LU orcid and Huotilainen, Minna (2008) In Clinical Neurophysiology 119(2). p.332-341
Abstract
Objective: Behavioral experiments show that infants use both prosodic and statistical cues in acquiring language. However, it is not yet clear whether these prosodic and statistical tools are already present at birth. Methods: We recorded brain responses of sleeping newborns to natural sounds rich in prosody, namely singing and continuous speech, and to two impoverished manipulations of speech. A total of 11 newborns were presented with continuous speech, singing, and degraded speech, while MEG was recorded. Results: We found that a brain response elicited to the prosodically rich singing and continuous natural speech conditions decreased dramatically when the prosody in the speech was impoverished. Conclusions: We claim that this response... (More)
Objective: Behavioral experiments show that infants use both prosodic and statistical cues in acquiring language. However, it is not yet clear whether these prosodic and statistical tools are already present at birth. Methods: We recorded brain responses of sleeping newborns to natural sounds rich in prosody, namely singing and continuous speech, and to two impoverished manipulations of speech. A total of 11 newborns were presented with continuous speech, singing, and degraded speech, while MEG was recorded. Results: We found that a brain response elicited to the prosodically rich singing and continuous natural speech conditions decreased dramatically when the prosody in the speech was impoverished. Conclusions: We claim that this response is the indicator of the infants' sensitivity to prosodic cues in language, which is already present at birth during natural sleep. Significance: The indicators of detection of prosody may be crucial in assessing the normal and abnormal cortical function in newborns, especially of those infants at-risk for language problems. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
magnetoencephalography, continuous speech, degraded speech, newborn, prosody
in
Clinical Neurophysiology
volume
119
issue
2
pages
332 - 341
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000253029600011
  • scopus:37549041334
ISSN
1872-8952
DOI
10.1016/j.clinph.2007.09.144
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6c5377df-dc1a-43d0-a53b-2ad6121d9813 (old id 1198756)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:34:28
date last changed
2022-04-13 20:49:53
@article{6c5377df-dc1a-43d0-a53b-2ad6121d9813,
  abstract     = {{Objective: Behavioral experiments show that infants use both prosodic and statistical cues in acquiring language. However, it is not yet clear whether these prosodic and statistical tools are already present at birth. Methods: We recorded brain responses of sleeping newborns to natural sounds rich in prosody, namely singing and continuous speech, and to two impoverished manipulations of speech. A total of 11 newborns were presented with continuous speech, singing, and degraded speech, while MEG was recorded. Results: We found that a brain response elicited to the prosodically rich singing and continuous natural speech conditions decreased dramatically when the prosody in the speech was impoverished. Conclusions: We claim that this response is the indicator of the infants' sensitivity to prosodic cues in language, which is already present at birth during natural sleep. Significance: The indicators of detection of prosody may be crucial in assessing the normal and abnormal cortical function in newborns, especially of those infants at-risk for language problems.}},
  author       = {{Sambeth, Anke and Ruohio, Katja and Alku, Paavo and Fellman, Vineta and Huotilainen, Minna}},
  issn         = {{1872-8952}},
  keywords     = {{magnetoencephalography; continuous speech; degraded speech; newborn; prosody}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{332--341}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Clinical Neurophysiology}},
  title        = {{Sleeping newborns extract prosody from continuous speech}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2007.09.144}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.clinph.2007.09.144}},
  volume       = {{119}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}