Poster E6, Thursday, August 22, 2019, 3:45 – 5:30 pm, Restaurant Hall
Association of speech perception and production in 2-month-olds: Relating event-related-potential and vocal reactivity measures
Gesa Schaadt1,2,3, Angela D. Friederici2, Hellmuth Obrig1,3, Claudia Männel1,2,3;1Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, 2Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 3Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
Infants’ phonological abilities are key features of successful language development, with a functional connection between speech perception and production. For 10-month-olds, it has been shown that babbling –a form of vocalization– shapes infants’ speech processing. However, precursors of babbling (e.g., imitation of mouth movements and vocalization) already develop around the second month of life, yet the association of speech perception and production has not been investigated for this early developmental period. In the present study, we investigated speech perception and production in 2-month-olds. For speech perception, we evaluated infants’ brain responses in a multi-feature paradigm with four deviant stimulus categories, namely consonant (/ga/), vowel (/bu/), pitch (F0; /ba+/), and vowel length changes (/ba:/) that were contrasted against the standard stimulus /ba/. For speech production, we used the subscale Vocal reactivity of the parental Infant Behavior Questionnaire, defined as the amount of infants’ vocalization exhibited in daily activities along a 7-point scale. Analyses of brain responses revealed infants’ (N = 25) significant positive Mismatch Responses (MMR; i.e., brain responses to deviants minus responses to standards) for all deviant categories, with the positive polarity of the MMR being typical for this young age. Moreover, we found a negative correlation (r = –0.38, p < 0.03) between the MMR to vowel changes and vocal reactivity, but no correlation between the MMR to any other deviant category and vocal reactivity. Specifically, a more negative MMR to vowel changes was associated with infants’ higher amount of vocalization. The fact that specifically the MMR to vowel changes was associated with vocal reactivity might be explained by findings showing that the perception and production of vowels emerge earlier in development, compared to the perception and production of consonants. Our results suggest that the developmental transition from a positive to a negative polarity of the MMR, with negative MMRs indicating more mature responses, might be influenced by infants’ expressive abilities. In conclusion, our study indicates that speech perception and production are shaping each other already at an early age.
Themes: Development, Speech Perception
Method: Electrophysiology (MEG/EEG/ECOG)