QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, January 10, 2007, 27(2):315-321; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1984-06.2007

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in J. Neurosci. Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (5) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Minagawa-Kawai, Y. Articles by Kojima, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Minagawa-Kawai, Y. Articles by Kojima, S.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Neural Attunement Processes in Infants during the Acquisition of a Language-Specific Phonemic Contrast

Yasuyo Minagawa-Kawai,^1,2,3,4 Koichi Mori,⁵ Nozomi Naoi,¹ and Shozo Kojima^1,2

¹Department of Psychology, Keio University, Tokyo 108-8345, Japan, ²Japan Agency of Science and Technology, Saitama 332-0012, Japan, ³Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris 75005, France, ⁴Centre for Developmental Language Disorders and Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1 NPF, United Kingdom, and ⁵Department of Rehabilitation for Sensory Functions, Research Institute, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Saitama 359-8555, Japan

Correspondence should be addressed to Yasuyo Minagawa-Kawai, Department of Psychology, Keio University, 2-15-45 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8345, Japan. Email: myasuyo{at}bea.hi-ho.ne.jp

To elucidate the developmental neural attunement process in the language-specific phonemic repertoire, cerebral hemodynamic responses to a Japanese durational vowel contrast were measured in Japanese infants using near-infrared spectroscopy. Because only relative durational information distinguishes this particular vowel contrast, both first and second language learners have difficulties in acquiring this phonemically crucial durational difference. Previous cross-linguistic studies conducted on adults showed that phoneme-specific, left-dominant neural responses were observed only for native Japanese listeners. Using the same stimuli, we show that a larger response to the across-category changes than to the within-category changes occurred transiently in the 6- to 7-month-old group before stabilizing in the groups older than 12 months. However, the left dominance of the phoneme-specific response in the auditory area was observed only in the groups of 13 months and above. Thus, the durational phonemic contrast is most likely processed first by a generic auditory circuit at 6–7 months as a result of early auditory experience. The neural processing of the contrast is then switched over to a more linguistic circuit after 12 months, this time with a left dominance similar to native adult listeners.

Key words: speech perception; phonemic acquisition; NIRS; cerebral lateralization; auditory area; development

---

Received May 9, 2006; revised Nov. 21, 2006; accepted Nov. 28, 2006.

Correspondence should be addressed to Yasuyo Minagawa-Kawai, Department of Psychology, Keio University, 2-15-45 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8345, Japan. Email: myasuyo{at}bea.hi-ho.ne.jp

Related articles in J. Neurosci.:

This Week in The Journal

J. Neurosci. 2007 27: i. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. Nakano, H. Watanabe, F. Homae, and G. Taga Prefrontal Cortical Involvement in Young Infants' Analysis of Novelty Cereb Cortex, June 9, 2008; (2008) bhn096v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Minagawa-Kawai, S. Matsuoka, I. Dan, N. Naoi, K. Nakamura, and S. Kojima Prefrontal Activation Associated with Social Attachment: Facial-Emotion Recognition in Mothers and Infants Cereb Cortex, May 30, 2008; (2008) bhn081v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help