Prenatal Daily Musical Exposure Is Associated with Enhanced Neural Representation of Speech Fundamental Frequency: Evidence from Neonatal Frequency-Following Responses

Autor/inn/en	Arenillas-Alcón, Sonia; Ribas-Prats, Teresa; Puertollano, Marta; Mondéjar-Segovia, Alejandro; Gómez-Roig, María Dolores; Costa-Faidella, Jordi; Escera, Carles
Titel	Prenatal Daily Musical Exposure Is Associated with Enhanced Neural Representation of Speech Fundamental Frequency: Evidence from Neonatal Frequency-Following Responses
Quelle	In: Developmental Science, 26 (2023) 5, (14 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1363-755X
DOI	10.1111/desc.13362
Schlagwörter	Prenatal Influences; Neonates; Music; Speech; Preferences; Brain; Auditory Stimuli; Cognitive Processes; Auditory Perception; Intonation; Singing; Acoustics; Language Processing; Language Acquisition + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Pränataler Einfluss; Neugeborenes Kind; Musik; Speaking; Sprechen; Gehirn; Auditive Stimulation; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Auditive Wahrnehmung; Akustische Wahrnehmung; Akustik; Gesang; Sprachverarbeitung; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb
Abstract	Fetal hearing experiences shape the linguistic and musical preferences of neonates. From the very first moment after birth, newborns prefer their native language, recognize their mother's voice, and show a greater responsiveness to lullabies presented during pregnancy. Yet, the neural underpinnings of this experience inducing plasticity have remained elusive. Here we recorded the frequency-following response (FFR), an auditory evoked potential elicited to periodic complex sounds, to show that prenatal music exposure is associated to enhanced neural encoding of speech stimuli periodicity, which relates to the perceptual experience of pitch. FFRs were recorded in a sample of 60 healthy neonates born at term and aged 12-72 hours. The sample was divided into two groups according to their prenatal musical exposure (29 daily musically exposed; 31 not-daily musically exposed). Prenatal exposure was assessed retrospectively by a questionnaire in which mothers reported how often they sang or listened to music through loudspeakers during the last trimester of pregnancy. The FFR was recorded to either a /da/ or an /oa/ speech-syllable stimulus. Analyses were centered on stimuli sections of identical duration (113 ms) and fundamental frequency (F[subscript 0] = 113 Hz). Neural encoding of stimuli periodicity was quantified as the FFR spectral amplitude at the stimulus F[subscript 0]. Data revealed that newborns exposed daily to music exhibit larger spectral amplitudes at F[subscript 0] as compared to not-daily musically-exposed newborns, regardless of the eliciting stimulus. Our results suggest that prenatal music exposure facilitates the tuning to human speech fundamental frequency, which may support early language processing and acquisition. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01