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Abstract
Previous research has shown that by the time of birth, the neonate brain responds specially to the native language when compared to acoustically similar non-language stimuli. In the current study, we use near-infrared spectroscopy to ask how prenatal language experience might shape the brain response to language in newborn infants. To do so, we examine the neural response of neonates when listening to familiar versus unfamiliar language, as well as to non language stimuli. Twenty monolingual English-exposed neonates aged 0–3 days were tested. Each infant heard low-pass filtered sentences of forward English (familiar language), forward Tagalog (unfamiliar language), and backward English and Tagalog (non-language). During exposure, neural activation was measured across 12 channels on each hemisphere. Our results indicate a bilateral effect of language familiarity on neonates’ brain response to language. Differential brain activation was seen when neonates listened to forward Tagalog (unfamiliar language) as compared to other types of language stimuli. We interpret these results as evidence that the prenatal experience with the native language gained in utero influences how the newborn brain responds to language across brain regions sensitive to speech processing.
Highlights
It is well known that the adult brain is specialized in its response to native language (Perani et al, 1996; Dehaene et al, 1997)
No one has yet investigated whether the experience that neonates have with the native language while in utero influences the pattern and location of brain activity to familiar versus unfamiliar language
Our findings demonstrate that the neural processing of language is influenced by language experience even by the first few days of life
Summary
It is well known that the adult brain is specialized in its response to native language (Perani et al, 1996; Dehaene et al, 1997). Recent evidence has suggested that the human brain is tuned to language from the earliest stages of development. A few days after birth, neonates respond differently to language than to nonlinguistic sounds. What is unknown from past research is the extent to which early prenatal experience with language may play a role in determining the organization of neonates’ neural tuning for language. No one has yet investigated whether the experience that neonates have with the native language while in utero influences the pattern and location of brain activity to familiar versus unfamiliar language. We use near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to take the first steps in exploring this question
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