We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us
PURITAN MEDICAL

Download Mobile App




Brain Scanner Shows Infants’ Brains Rehearse Speech Sounds Months Before Their First Words

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 30 Jul 2014
Print article
Image: A one-year-old baby sits in a brain scanner, called magnetoencephalography (MEG)—a noninvasive approach to measuring brain activity. The baby listens to speech sounds such as “da” and “ta” played over headphones while researchers record her brain responses (Photo courtesy of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the University of Washington).
Image: A one-year-old baby sits in a brain scanner, called magnetoencephalography (MEG)—a noninvasive approach to measuring brain activity. The baby listens to speech sounds such as “da” and “ta” played over headphones while researchers record her brain responses (Photo courtesy of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the University of Washington).
New research in 7- and 11-month-old infants revealed that speech sounds stimulate brain regions that coordinate and plan motor movements for speech. The new study suggests that babies’ brains begin establishing the foundation of how to form words long before they actually begin to speak and this may affect the developmental transition.

Infants notice the difference between sounds of all languages until about eight months of age when their brains begin to concentrate only on the sounds they hear around them. It is not known how this transition occurs, but social interactions and caregivers’ use of embellished “parentese” manner of speech appear to help.

The study’s findings were published July 14, 2014, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. “Most babies babble by seven months, but don’t utter their first words until after their first birthdays,” said lead author Dr. Patricia Kuhl, who is the co-director of the University of Washington’s (UW; Seattle, USA) Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences. “Finding activation in motor areas of the brain when infants are simply listening is significant, because it means the baby brain is engaged in trying to talk back right from the start and suggests that seven-month-olds’ brains are already trying to figure out how to make the right movements that will produce words.”

Dr. Kuhl and her research colleagues think this practice at motor planning contributes to the transition when babies become more sensitive to their native language. These findings stress the importance of talking to kids during social interactions even if they are not talking back yet. “Hearing us talk exercises the action areas of infants’ brains, going beyond what we thought happens when we talk to them,” Dr. Kuhl said. “Infants’ brains are preparing them to act on the world by practicing how to speak before they actually say a word.”

In the research, infants sat in a brain scanner that measures brain activation through a noninvasive technique called magnetoencephalography (MEG). The brain scanner resembles an egg-shaped old-fashioned hair dryer and is completely safe for infants. The Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences was the first in the world to use such a tool to study babies while they engaged in a task.

Each of the infants, 57 7- and 11- or 12-month-olds, listened to a series of native and foreign language syllables such as “da” and “ta” as researchers recorded brain responses. They listened to sounds in English and in Spanish. The researchers examined brain activity in an auditory area of the brain called the superior temporal gyrus, as well as in Broca’s area and the cerebellum, cortical regions responsible for planning the motor movements required for producing speech.

This pattern of brain activation occurred for sounds in the seven-month-olds’ native language (English) as well as in a non-native language (Spanish), showing that at this early age infants are responding to all speech sounds, whether or not they have heard the sounds before.

In the older infants, brain activation was different. By 11-12 months, babies’ brains increase motor activation to the non-native speech sounds comparative to their native speech, which the researchers interpret as showing that it takes more effort for the baby brain to forecast which movements create non-native speech. This reflects an effect of experience between 7 and 11 months, and suggests that activation in motor brain areas is contributing to the transition in early speech perception.

The study has social implications, suggesting that the slow and exaggerated-style of parentese speech-- “Hiiiii! How are youuuuu?”--may actually prompt infants to try to synthesize utterances themselves and imitate what they heard, uttering something like “Ahhh bah bah baaah.”

“Parentese is very exaggerated, and when infants hear it, their brains may find it easier to model the motor movements necessary to speak,” Dr. Kuhl said.

Related Links:

University of Washington


Flocked Swab
HydraFlock and PurFlock Ultra
New
Platinum Supplier
Ultra-Low PSA Control
Prostate-Specific Antigen Control
New
Spectrophotometer
UVILINE 9300
New
Platinum Supplier
BNP Control
BNP1-32

Print article

Channels

Clinical Chem.

view channel
Image: Electrochemical cells etched by laser on wooden tongue depressor measure glucose and nitrite in saliva (Photo courtesy of Analytical Chemistry)

Biosensor-Fabricated Wooden Tongue Depressor Measures Glucose and Nitrite in Saliva

Physicians often use tongue depressors to examine a patient's mouth and throat. However, it is hard to imagine that this simple wooden tool could actively assess a patient's health. This idea has led to... Read more

Hematology

view channel
Image: The Atellica HEMA 570 and 580 hematology analyzers remove workflow barriers (Photo courtesy of Siemens)

Next-Gen Hematology Analyzers Eliminate Workflow Roadblocks and Achieve Fast Throughput

Hematology testing is a critical aspect of patient care, utilized to establish a patient's health baseline, track treatment progress, or guide timely modifications to care. However, increasing constraints... Read more

Immunology

view channel
Image: Newly observed anti-FSP antibodies have also been found to predict immune-related adverse events (Photo courtesy of Calviri)

First Blood-Based Biomarkers Test to Predict Treatment Response in Cancer Patients

Every year worldwide, lung cancer afflicts over two million individuals and almost the same number of people succumb to the disease. This malignancy leads the charts in cancer-related mortalities, with... Read more

Microbiology

view channel
Image: The rapid MTB strip test for tuberculosis can identify TB patients within two hours (Photo courtesy of Chulalongkorn University)

Rapid MTB Strip Test Detects Tuberculosis in Less Than an Hour without Special Tools

Tuberculosis (TB), a highly infectious disease, continues to pose significant challenges to public health worldwide. TB is caused by a bacterium known as "Mycobacterium tuberculosis," spreading through... Read more

Pathology

view channel
Image: The UNIQO 160 (CE-IVDR) advances diagnostic analysis for autoimmune diseases (Photo courtesy of EUROIMMUN)

Novel Automated IIFT System Enables Cutting-Edge Diagnostic Analysis

A newly-launched automated indirect immunofluorescence test (IIFT) system for autoimmune disease diagnostics offers an all-in-one solution to enhance the efficiency of the complete IIFT process, comprising... Read more

Technology

view channel
Electronic biosensor uses DNA aptamers for detecting biomarkers in whole blood samples (Photo courtesy of Freepik)

Electronic Biosensor Detects Biomarkers in Whole Blood Samples without Addition of Reagents

The absence of robust, reliable, and user-friendly bioanalytical tools for early and timely diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases, particularly sudden cardiac arrest, leads to preventable deaths and imposes... Read more

Industry

view channel
Image: The global HbA1c testing devices market is expected to reach USD 2.56 billion in 2027 (Photo courtesy of Freepik)

Global Hemoglobin A1c Testing Devices Market Driven by Rising Prevalence of Diabetes

Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), or glycated hemoglobin, refers to hemoglobin with glucose attached. HbA1c testing devices are used for blood tests that determine average blood glucose, or blood sugar levels.... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2023 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.