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Updated: May 27, 2026
06:34
Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
Published on: July 1, 2015
Cortical systems that process language, as revealed by non-native speech sound perception.
Ioulia Kovelman1, Jonathan C Yip, Erica L Beck
1Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. kovelman@umich.edu
Neuroreport
|November 9, 2011
Summary
Adult brains specialize in native language phoneme perception. The left inferior frontal region activates for native speech sounds, highlighting its role in processing familiar language phonemes.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Linguistics
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Brain specialization for native language phoneme perception occurs during language acquisition.
- Adults efficiently process native language sounds but may struggle with non-native phonemes.
- This specialization results from brain maturation and language experience.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural basis of native language phoneme discrimination.
- To examine brain activity differences in perceiving native versus non-native speech sounds.
Main Methods:
- Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) imaging was used to measure brain activity.
- Adult native English speakers discriminated between phonemes varying in similarity to English sounds.
- Phoneme pairs included Tagalog /na/-/ŋa/ (similar) and Ndebele /k||i/-/k!i/ (different).
Main Results:
- The left inferior frontal region showed significant activation exclusively during the discrimination of native (English) phonemes.
- No significant activation was observed in this region for non-native phoneme discrimination.
Conclusions:
- The left inferior frontal region plays a critical role in the perception of native phoneme contrasts.
- This finding supports the involvement of the left inferior frontal region in native language specialization from development through adulthood.
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