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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 29, 2026

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations

Published on: July 1, 2015

Functional hemispheric specialization in processing phonemic and prosodic auditory changes in neonates.

Takeshi Arimitsu¹, Mariko Uchida-Ota, Tatsuhiko Yagihashi

¹Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Keio University Tokyo, Japan.

Frontiers in Psychology

|September 29, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Neonates show early brain lateralization for speech perception. The right hemisphere is specialized for prosody processing, while the left parietal area is involved in phonemic processing, suggesting developmental pathways for language acquisition.

Keywords:

NIRS auditory area functional lateralization neonates phoneme prosody

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Developmental Psychology
Speech and Language Sciences

Background:

Speech perception abilities in neonates are crucial for language development.
Understanding early functional brain lateralization provides insights into the developmental trajectory of speech processing.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the early cerebral basis of speech perception in neonates.
To examine functional lateralization for processing segmental (vowel) and suprasegmental (prosodic) speech features.

Main Methods:

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to measure auditory evoked responses in neonates.
Hemodynamic responses to phonemic (/itta/ vs. /itte/) and prosodic (/itta/ vs. /itta?/) contrasts were recorded.

Main Results:

Neonates exhibited hemodynamic responses to both phonemic and prosodic speech changes in temporal, parietal, and frontal areas.
Prosodic changes elicited stronger responses in the right temporal area, indicating hemispheric specialization.
Vowel changes showed bilateral temporal activation, but asymmetrical parietal activation (left-dominant), linked to verbal-auditory short-term memory.

Conclusions:

The right hemisphere demonstrates a specialized function for prosody processing from birth.
Left parietal activity during phonemic processing suggests early involvement in verbal-auditory short-term memory.
Findings contribute to understanding the developmental progression of functional lateralization for speech from birth to two years.