Human neonates discriminate vowel sounds played forward, as in normal speech, from their waveform reversal after five hours of exposure on the first day of their life. The neural dynamics supporting this rapid perceptual learning indicate a primitive brain mechanism similar to the language-processing network of adults.
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References
Cheour, M. et al. Speech sounds learned by sleeping newborns. Nature 415, 599–600 (2002). This paper reports one of the earliest demonstrations of speech-sound acquisition in neonates.
Peña, M. et al. Sounds and silence: an optical topography study of language recognition at birth. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 100, 11702–11705 (2003). This paper exemplifies how fNIRS can be safely and effectively used to examine neural activities in neonates.
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Kuhl, P. K. Infant speech perception: integration of multimodal data leads to a new hypothesis-sensorimotor mechanisms underlie learning. In Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology: Human Communication: Origins, Mechanism, and Functions (eds. Sera, M. D. & Koenig, M.) Ch. 5 (Wiley Online Library, 2021). In this book chapter, Kuhl proposes an experience-based sensorimotor learning mechanism supporting the initial acquisition of speech sounds, and to a large extent this work inspired the present study.
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This is a summary of: Wu, Y. J. et al. Rapid learning of a phonemic discrimination in the first hours of life. Nat. Hum. Behav. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01355-1 (2022).
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Human neonates learn to recognize speech sounds on the first day of life. Nat Hum Behav 6, 1040–1041 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01368-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01368-w
