Revealing speech perception in the newborn brain with the means of mismatch negativity

Kirjoittajat

• Teija Kujala Helsingin yliopisto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.57048/aasf.147584

Avainsanat:

puhe, oppiminen, pikkulapset, aivot

Abstrakti

One of the most demanding tasks of infants is to learn to speak. The efficiency of infants in this task, typically uttering their first words in a year, has puzzled scientists. The neural mismatch negativity (MMN) or mismatch response (MMR), elicited even in inattentive participants, has illuminated these processes. MMR studies have shown that already at birth, the principal adult-like auditory speech decoding abilities exist. This enables the neonatal brain to, for instance, categorize speech sounds and detect word boundaries, permitting efficient language acquisition. MMR studies have also illuminated perceptual deficits in newborns at risk for developmental disorders of language.