Abstract
Appropriate processing of human voices with different threat-related emotions is of evolutionarily adaptive value for the survival of individuals. Nevertheless, it is still not clear whether the sensitivity to threat-related information is present at birth. Using an odd-ball paradigm, the current study investigated the neural correlates underlying automatic processing of emotional voices of fear and anger in sleeping neonates. Event-related potential data showed that the fronto-central scalp distribution of the neonatal brain could discriminate fearful voices from angry voices; the mismatch response (MMR) was larger in response to the deviant stimuli of anger, compared with the standard stimuli of fear. Furthermore, this fear–anger MMR discrimination was observed only when neonates were in active sleep state. Although the neonates' sensitivity to threat-related voices is not likely associated with a conceptual understanding of fearful and angry emotions, this special discrimination in early life may provide a foundation for later emotion and social cognition development.
Highlights
Evolution has tailored the human brain to be sensitive to the emotional expressions of others, especially when these expressions are vocalized (Hawk et al, 2009; Decety and Howard, 2013)
Young infants are highly attentive to emotional voices (Grossmann, 2010), it is still not clear whether this is a basic characteristic of perception that is present at birth, or whether it is one that is learned gradually during development
The mismatch response (MMR) evoked by angry vocal sounds (FC3 = 5.09 ± 2.50 μV; FC4 = 6.06 ± 2.89 μV) was significantly larger than that evoked by fearful vocal sounds (FC3 = 3.45 ± 2.25 μV; FC4 = 3.37 ± 2.82 μV) during active sleep (AS) state at fronto-central electrodes [FC3: F(1, 30) = 7.07, p = 0.012; FC4: F(1, 30) = 16.6, p < 0.001]; this effect was not significant at centro-parietal electrodes or during quiet sleep (QS) state
Summary
Evolution has tailored the human brain to be sensitive to the emotional expressions of others, especially when these expressions are vocalized (Hawk et al, 2009; Decety and Howard, 2013). Human infants have rather extensive experience with vocal emotional information. Neuroimaging studies indicate that infants at 3–7 months of age could process the voice and its emotions (Grossmann et al, 2005, 2010; Flom and Bahrick, 2007; Blasi et al, 2011; Lloyd-Fox et al, 2012). Young infants are highly attentive to emotional voices (Grossmann, 2010), it is still not clear whether this is a basic characteristic of perception that is present at birth, or whether it is one that is learned gradually during development. There are very few studies investigating the behavioral performance or neural correlates of emotional voice processing in neonates [except one behavioral (Mastropieri and Turkewitz, 1999) and one event-related potential (ERP) study (Cheng et al, 2012)]
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