The specificity of the neural response to speech at birth
View/ Open
Date
2018Author
May, Lillian
Gervain, Judit
Carreiras, Manuel
Werker, Janet F.
Metadata
Show full item record
May L, Gervain J, Carreiras M, Werker JF. The specificity of the neural response to speech at birth. Dev Sci. 2018;21:e12564. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12564
Abstract
In this work we ask whether at birth, the human brain responds uniquely to speech, or
if similar activation also occurs to a non-speech
surrogate ‘language’. We compare
neural activation in newborn infants to the language heard in utero (English), to an
unfamiliar language (Spanish), and to a whistled surrogate language (Silbo Gomero)
that, while used by humans to communicate, is not speech. Anterior temporal areas of
the neonate cortex are activated in response to both familiar and unfamiliar spoken
language, but these classic language areas are not activated to the whistled surrogate
form. These results suggest that at the time human infants emerge from the womb, the
neural preparation for language is specialized to speech.