Fetal rhythm-based language discrimination

Abstract

Using fetal biomagnetometry, this study measured changes in fetal heart rate to assess discrimination of two rhythmically different languages (English, Japanese). Two-minute passages in English and Japanese were read by the same female bilingual speaker. Twenty-four mother-fetus pairs (mean gestational age=35.5 weeks) participated. Fetal magnetocardiography was recorded while the participants were presented first with Passage 1, a passage in English, and then, following an 18-minute interval, with Passage 2, either a different passage in English (English-English Condition: N=12) or in Japanese (English-Japanese Condition: N=12). The fetal magnetocardiogram was reconstructed following Independent Components Analysis decomposition. Mean inter-beat intervals were calculated for a 30-second baseline interval directly preceding each Passage, and for the first 30 seconds of each Passage. We then subtracted the mean inter-beat interval of the 30-second baseline interval from that of the first 30-second interval, yielding an inter-beat interval change value for each Passage. A significant interaction between Condition and Passage indicated that the English-Japanese Condition elicited a more robust inter-beat interval change for Passage 2 (Novelty Phase) than for Passage 1 (Familiarity Phase), reflecting a faster heart rate during Passage 2, while the English-English Condition did not. This effect demonstrates that fetuses are sensitive to the change in language from English to Japanese. These findings provide the first evidence for fetal language discrimination as assessed by fetal biomagnetometry, and support the hypothesis that rhythm constitutes a prenatally available building block in language acquisition.

A description of externally recorded womb sounds in human subjects during gestation

“…[ 27 ] Additionally, infants in the womb respond to the native language of their mother differently than to a foreign language. [ 28 ] These findings demonstrate a sophistication in the fetuses ability to discriminate sounds, and highlight the importance of exploring the womb soundscapes influence on the developing brain.…”

Changing subplate circuits: Early activity dependent circuit plasticity

“…Whereas sounds like breathing, heartbeat, digestive noises are ongoing with relatively constant spectral content, vocalization sounds, i.e., speech is irregular with varying frequency content and is likely to produce less adaptation. In fact, human fetuses and preterm infants can distinguish speech sound and non-speech sounds and respond to maternal voices before term suggesting sound experience shapes the fetal brain and complex auditory processing is possible in humans before term birth (Minai et al, 2017 ) pointing toward a possible involvement of the SPNs. However, one needs to consider that this is still indirect evidence as researchers recorded fetal heart rate in response to sound presentation and that there is no direct evidence of fetal brain activity to such stimuli.…”

Lexico-semantic access and audiovisual integration in the aging brain: Insights from mixed-effects regression analyses of event-related potentials

“…Unlike other prominent theories, which often primarily stress the "negative" aspects of aging, such as neural and functional decline in visual attention, episodic and working memory, and inhibitory control (Cabeza, 2002;Davis, Dennis, Daselaar, Fleck, & Cabeza, 2008), STAC-r theory stresses that age-related changes are due not only to these (and other) negative factors, but also to "positive" plasticity that accompanies aging, including new learning, the development of expertise in a specific domain, the specialization of neural circuitry, and neurogenesis. Using a framework that considers these positive factors is clearly of substantial potential value in the domain of language given that language learning begins in utero (Minai, Gustafson, Fiorentino, Jongman, & Sereno, 2017) and continues throughout the lifespan (Keuleers, Stevens, Mandera, & Brysbaert, 2015). Thus, STAC-r seems particularly well suited for guiding the understanding of our results.…”